Fifa hail football Com-Unity

the highest number of participants they have recorded in Africa.
About 140 delegates attended the seminar, which was organised by Zifa and funded by Fifa, and sought to map the way forward for women’s football in the country.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the three-day workshop in the capital yesterday, Fifa instructor and Namibia national women’s team coach Jacqui Shipanga, said the participants showed great enthusiasm and knowledge.
“You are blessed in Zimbabwe. We do not doubt your enthusiasm and wisdom and time has come for women to take charge and lead. Our wish is you leave here rejuvenated, with the passion you have.

“Fifa is growing and initiatives designed for 208 countries are held constantly. The 2010 World Cup offered great opportunities and Africa is no longer that far. The sleeping giant has awaken,” said Shipanga.
Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive, Anna Mguni, who was the guest of honour, yesterday said Zimbabwe remains indebted to the support they have been getting from Fifa.

The seminar saw stakeholders interacting on how they can develop the girl child sport and Fifa development officers had presentations in the marketing of the sport, communication and development. The different stakeholders, who attended the three-day event, commended the organisers for coming up with such a seminar, which they said opened new doors to the development of the game.
Sport and Recreation Commission board member, Eugenia Chidhakwa, said the seminar did not only benefit football but also other sporting disciplines.

“The seminar was good in the sense that as much as it was a football seminar it cut across different stakeholders, we have got the corporate world, members from the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Sports Commission and other sporting associations.
“The topics discussed will help improve especially the issue of corporate governance. For instance in marketing, we were taught a lot about marketing, how we are supposed to be handling business. We are happy as SRC,” said Chidhakwa.

Commissioner on Women and Sport the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, Margaret Muswazi, said there was need to implement the ideas that came up during the presentation in the past three days if women’s football is to realise the benefits of the seminar.

“The seminar couldn’t have come at a better time because we have women soccer beginning to take shape, it has already gathered momentum.
“With the win from the Cosafa tournament and qualification for the All-Africa Games, we needed to prepare people for better organisation.
“Fifa and Zifa are very important in the development of women’s football. This seminar also satisfies one of the millennium goals, which is gender equity.

“The content was very appropriate, it gave people skills for areas where there is hope for women football.
“Challenges were discussed and there were observations and recommendations related to the importance of women soccer. T

“The Fifa instructors were so capable of imparting the information and the enthusiasm was great. We are just hoping that this is not going to be like any other seminar where people learn and forget. What remains is for Zifa to maintain the progress,” said Muswazi.
Alexander Nyamweda, who participated as a potential sponsor, said the seminar was an eye-opener for all stakeholders.

“Basically we were expecting to receive but we learnt that it is give and take, we (the sponsors and the Zimbabwe women’s football) both have something to offer and receive.
“The seminar was good, we should change not only women’s football but the whole football scenario if we implement what we learnt.

“The danger is to go back and put all what we have learnt in a shelf because we need to go out there and implement it, be it women or men’s soccer, it’s the same,” said Nyamweda.

Classic Electrical technical director, Eddy Sande, said they saw the opportunities that lie in partnering Zifa.

The curtain comes down today with a girls’ football festival at Rufaro, which will see the Under-15s participating in small-sided football matches creating awareness to all the stakeholders that have been attending the seminar for the past three days.