Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
CASTLE Lager Premier Soccer League leaders Hardrock aren’t only on the brink of writing a unique piece of history by becoming the first team from Kwekwe to win the championship.
They are well on their way to transforming the Midlands town, known more for its rich gold deposits, into the country’s major football hub.
As well as finalising the mechanics to partner Portugal giants Benfica, Hardrock are about to commence the construction of an envisaged state-of-the-art School of Excellence on a 10-hectare space of land.
Construction works for the School of Excellence, which will have a boarding school for budding footballers, a 100-room hotel and just about everything else will commence at the top of this year.
But before that, Hardrock will ink a deal with Benfica, a club which is basically talent factory in Europe.
This follows a return visit by Benfica officials to Hardrock after the latter’s officials first visited the Portuguese team a few months ago.
That courtesy visit was not a holiday and as it turns out, it was a serious football business adventure undertaken by the top club hierarchy including team president Shepherd Chahwanda Magodora and chairman Wellington Mpandare.
And now three officials from Benfica Davide Gomes, Miguel Reis and Nicholas Dann are in Kwekwe getting an appreciation of what their impending partner is up to.
They spent most of the day on Tuesday seeing what Hardrock are building and they were impressed.
“Benfica are one of the biggest clubs in the world when it comes to developing players. For them to come to Kwekwe, to see what we are doing, and to say they want to partner us, that shows we are doing something right,” said Hardrock board member Charles Chahwanda.
“We did not just wake up and decide to partner Benfica. We visited them first. We saw how they operate. We learned from them. Now they have come to see us. And they were happy with what they saw. They appreciated our professionalism.
“We are now finalising the Memorandum of Understanding. This is going to change football in Kwekwe, in Zimbabwe, and in Africa.”
But the Benfica partnership is only part of the story.
Hardrock will also set up a school of excellence on their newly acquired 10-hectare land in the mining town.
And this is not just a training ground.
The high-performance centre will have training facilities, a boarding school and a 100-room hotel.
Chahwanda speaks about it with pride and confidence.
“The school of excellence should be complete within eight months,” said Chahwanda.
“People may think eight months is too short, but the timeframe is achievable. We managed to build Chahwanda Stadium within a year. So, we know what we are doing. We know how to work. We know how to deliver.
“When we say we will do something, we do it. This school of excellence will be done in months.”
Nicholas Dann, one of the Benfica officials, also gave an appreciation of the school of excellence work.
He said: “The project is world-class in its scope and Benfica are excited to be part of something that will develop football from the grassroots,” said Dann.
“We are really shocked to see what Hardrock is doing for football. The stadium is magnificent and we are happy to be here.”
Meanwhile, the Chahwanda B Arena is nearing completion and it is built behind the main arena, with the C Arena besides it.
