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Innocent Kurira
GATEWAY High School will host the COSAFA qualifiers for the CAF African Schools Football Championship, which take place December 14-16.
The draw for the tournament is still to be conducted but ZIFA revealed the venue for the tournament on their social media handles.
The competition will involve Under-15 boys’ and girls’ teams from 10 COSAFA countries and will act as a qualifier for the continental finals in 2024.
The participating teams include Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia, and hosts Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe did not participate last year, so this will be their debut appearance and they are hoping to feature the best of their schools’talent.
A change to the COSAFA regulations allows countries to enter the best footballers on display at their national qualifiers rather than a single winning school, as happened in 2022.
Meanwhile, Eswatini are eager to show the progress made by the Fifa Talent Development Scheme (TDS) in the country when they make their debut at the tournament.
The TDS has been introduced in Eswatini this year to help identify young footballers and set them on a sustainable development pathway to a career in the game.
Although it has a long-term plan, it will be interesting to see what immediate results have been gained.
The Under-15 boys’ and girls’ teams that will take part in Harare are made up of a collection of schools, with the best of the talent on display at the national qualifier phase selected.
The boys’ team will be coached by Sonnyboy Nkhoma, who has also been assistant coach at national Under-17 level, and the girls by Thamie Dlamini.
“This competition is important for our team because it will present the players with an opportunity to be exposed to international participation at a tender age, thus serving as an inspiration and driver for the players to focus on their skills development to continually be a feature until they achieve their elite/professional status,” the Eswatini Football Association said in a statement.
Online Reporter