No progress in Wilson’s citizenship push
Mqondisi Dube | Saturday February 10, 2024 09:08
Wilson was born in Gaborone but is now an Australian citizen and therefore ineligible to play for Botswana.
In November, the Botswana Football Association (BFA) started a process to help the player obtain Botswana citizenship, which would enable him to make his Zebras debut. Wilson was flown into the country for the back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Mozambique and Guinea in November. But he did not feature as his citizenship status was the stumbling block.
The hope was that the citizenship process would be fast-tracked to enable him to play for the national team. Zebras coach, Didier Gomes da Rosa was left purring after watching Wilson during training in Francistown. “He's a very good player. He is very strong, mature, and experienced. I thank the BFA a lot for bringing him on board.
I am confident that he will help us a lot in the coming weeks once he has sorted his documents,” the Frenchman said ahead of the Mozambique game. But almost three months later, there has been little progress due to outstanding documents which Wilson must submit, according to the BFA CEO, Mfolo Mfolo.
“There are some documents which we are waiting for, for Brandon to submit and we have been waiting since then,” Mfolo said. At press time, the player had not responded to MmegiSport inquiries on the documents required by the association. Wilson plays in the Vietnam V League 1 for Hanoi FC and featured frequently for his side in the Asian Champions League.
His presence in the Zebras camp had added excitement with the hope he would be part of the team when the World Cup qualifiers resume in June. Botswana will travel to Uganda in the first week of June. Wilson was born in Gaborone 27 years ago and moved to Australia at an early age and has had stints with Burnley Juniors and Stockport County in England.