Online Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN football has finally taken steps to deal with the challenges plaguing the coaching sector with a view to addressing the lack of continuous coaching development.
The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) recently hosted their first Confederation of African Football (CAF) C Diploma Coaching Course since 2017.
That it has taken nearly a decade for local coaches to attend any form of course that has international recognition paints a gloomy picture of a vital structure of the national game that has suffered from years of neglect and stagnation.
As we reported in earlier editions of this publication, there was a natural overwhelming response with 30 coaches, including former players such as Chipo Tsodzo, among the participants.
We applaud this course for being a positive step towards improving coaching standards in the country and, more importantly, for reviving the staging of courses and capacity-building for local football trainers.
But we have reservations about strategies that have been used by ZIFA over the years, part of which eventually led into CAF slapping the country with a suspension from holding any courses under their banner.
Resultantly, Premier Soccer League, Division One teams and young players, in particular, have borne the brunt of Zimbabwe’s poor coaching standards that by comparison with other countries, are virtually now archaic.
Over the past decade or so, Zimbabwe has suffered greatly from a lack of continuous football coaching development.
Apart from the lack of CAF courses, there have neither been UEFA nor South American coaching courses offered locally in that period.
It is a far cry from the glory years when coaches such as Sunday Chidzambwa, Gibson Homela, Benedict Moyo, Paul Moyo, Shepherd Murape and the late duo of Nelson Matongorere and Steve Kwashi to name just a few, would go in numbers for coaching courses abroad.
Later on, the numbers became fewer with the likes of Charles Mhlauri, Taurayi Mangwiro and Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda going to Germany to advance their coaching credentials.
It is however, the stagnation which has put a damper on the credibility of the coaches we have.
The years of stagnation mean that coaches have not been introduced to new methodologies and teams continue to rely on outdated tactics and uninspiring game plans.
Resultantly, we have witnessed a worrying stagnation of Zimbabwe’s footballing culture, and what we have is a culture that is devoid of the dynamism seen in more progressive leagues including in neighbouring South Africa.
This failure has created a self-reinforcing cycle of mediocrity, where innovation is stifled and progress remains out of reach.
The absence of new coaching talent has created a troubling “musical chairs” situation, in which the same handful of coaches rotate endlessly between clubs, with matches that often resemble a tactical déjà vu, with little to distinguish one game from the next.
Clubs have paid the price by hiring and firing from the same small pond of coaches.
This recycling of coaches has only served to reinforce predictability, promote complacency, and has become a breeding ground for abuse and corruption.
This vacuum has bred unethical practices, with reports of coaches who “own” players — receiving cuts from player transfers or ‘pay to play schemes’ forcing particular line-ups — undermining meritocracy and corrupting the sport’s integrity.
Such conflicts of interest not only diminish trust but also obstruct promising talents from advancing based on merit.
It is against this background that we have a bunch of coaches who cannot handle young talent and feel more comfortable rotating already developed older players whenever the transfer window opens.
The neglect of coaching development has not only lowered the standard of play in the d0mestic Premiership it but also eroded the structural integrity of the league.
While we welcome the resumption of courses, we urge ZIFA to embrace new methodologies and strategies.
That the association allows the elite league to operate without statistics, for instance, in a world that has gone digital, underscores how far behind coaching methods in Zimbabwe have fallen.
To reverse this trend, Zimbabwean football needs to invest in modern coaching programmes, establish accountability frameworks, and create pathways for fresh, skilled minds to lead the game forward.
Without this, the next decade could look tragically similar to the last.
ZIFA cannot afford to lose CAF’s trust again in as far coaching courses are concerned.
The ZIFA technical director must advise the executive accordingly on this delicate matter and ensure that courses are not for those who afford as we have seen happening but for those who merit.
It is a shame that the majority of the CAF Licence holders from previous courses are not practicing.
ZIFA may need to adopt the apprentice model that we have seen in other industries and dump the current modus operandi where a coach controversially attains three CAF badges inside two years and has no record of going for attachment before enrolling for the next level.
It is also a fact that majority of coaches practicing in the country were trained by the same man — the late Matongorere.
While the former Zimbabwe Coaches Association leader did his part, we believe that ZIFA in investing in modern methods must invite different professional instructors, and send local coaches and players for attachments in professional set ups abroad.
There must also be mechanisms in place to gauge whether at the end of each coach course, the products are adding value and contributing to both long-term and short-term player development.
