‘Successor to Ronwen’: scout who took keeper Fletcher Lowe to Afcon champs Amajita

Prince Sobayeni, the scout who introduced Fletcher Lowe to newly crowned U-20 Africa Cup of Nations champions Amajita, believes the 18-year-old goalkeeper is the natural successor to Bafana Bafana star Ronwen Williams.

Lowe won the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award for his excellent performance, conceding two goals in Amajita’s seven games and none in the knockout stage, where he was man of the match in South Africa’s 1-0 final win against Morocco in Cairo on Sunday.

Sobayeni, who works as a digital scout for the South African Football Association (Safa) sifting through internet analysis to find eligible players who have slipped under the radar, introduced the goalkeeper to South Africa U-20 coach Raymond Mdaka.

“He seems like the natural successor to Ronwen. It’s football and you never know how things go — but if things go smoothly, he should be,” Sobayeni told TimesLIVE.

“He’s young. Some of us are arguing now, why not put him as the Bafana Bafana third choice? Let him get that experience because we’ve already seen the quality.

“Bafana coach Hugo Broos has said there’s a goalkeeping crisis [in emerging players] in South Africa. He mentioned Fletcher, which means he’s on the coach’s radar.”

The scout was able to give more background on the still little-known Lowe, who he said came through the ranks of the Ubuntu Football Academy in Cape Town.

“Fletcher is from Cape Town. He was at Ubuntu Cape Town for some years before moving to Portugal with his parents,” Sobayeni told TimesLIVE.

“His parents moved to Portugal for work reasons and because he was a footballer. He looked for a local club when he got there and joined a club called Oeiras, a club near where they were living [in Lisbon].

“He was scouted by a club called Alverca, the team that just gained promotion to the top division, though they were in the third division then.

“He was with their U-17s, graduated to their U-19s and then — it shows how good that boy is — he was doing so well for Alverca that Benfica came for him.

“He was there for a year then moved to Estoril at the beginning of this season. He is playing for their U-23 and is their No 1 goalkeeper. He’s already been training with the first team.”

Sobayeni said he came across Lowe about three or four years ago.

“I was looking for a goalkeeper who could fit into the U-17s of the last cycle for the 2023 [U-17] Afcon. 

“I have monitored him and also what a lot of people don’t know about what we do is sometimes it’s just to let the player know there is someone from South Africa who is watching them.

“He came to the camp before the Cosafa U-20 Cup [in Mozambique in September 2024]. His name was submitted with a lot of other overseas-based players. Some couldn’t come for different reasons.

“He made the squad and he was goalkeeper of the tournament with zero goals conceded [in five games, where Amajita beat Zambia 2-0 in the final].”

The SA U-20s’ Nations Cup success in Egypt came soon after the U-17s qualified for their World Cup by reaching the U-17 Afcon quarterfinals in Morocco this month.

Former Safa technical director Walter Steenbok, a renowned scout who left his post in March, has been credited with the rejuvenation of the youth teams through identifying talent and appointing coaches after they had been left rudderless for some time.

Sobayeni, who had used social media platforms to promote previously unknown eligible players based overseas, was roped in as a digital scout for Safa by Steenbok.

Sobayeni identified Norwich City defender Waylon Renecke and Vitesse midfielder Michael Dokunmu, who played for Amajimbos at the 2023 U-17 Afcon.

“Two years ago Steenbok and I had an agreement to work together, but my relationship with Safa started about 2018 in them recognising the work I had been doing.

“I scout overseas-based players for Safa. There are the players who were born here and then moved, like the typical players who move to a club at 18 because that’s the legal age.

“Then you’ve got the South African players who were born in the country and moved when they were younger, like with their parents or were even adopted by European parents.

“Then there are those who were born overseas and have South African lineage through their parents or grandparents.

“I use analysis and various apps and footage that direct me to the players. With Fletcher I watched his games digitally and got footage from one of my associates based in Portugal, who I asked to go and record him.”