Mat North beach soccer dev committee named

The committee will be headed by former ZPC (Hwange) goalkeeper and Hwange secretary-general Charles Nyala. The committee’s immediate task will be to set up structures in various districts and organise for a workshop to be conducted by officials from Beach Soccer Zimbabwe Association as well as seconded officials from Fifa.
The course is expected to have thirty participants taking up coaching with an equal number for referees.
“We decided to have Nyala because of his experience in football management, having been part of the Hwange executive. Our committee is also gender sensitive as we have two ladies in the committee,” said Weekly Mwale who was tasked with overseeing the project although he is also the secretary-general of the interim committee.
The vice-chairperson of the committee is a Binga-based lady, Christina Sibanda, with Hwange Local Board executive Mafa Ngwenya taking up the treasurer’s post.
“It was realised that there was a lot of sand in Binga and therefore somebody from that area will be ideal. Our first competition could be held in Binga,” said Mwale.
As part of efforts to develop interest in the sport in schools, National Association of Secondary Heads (Nash) will be represented by Lunguza Ndlovu with Enock Ngwenya taking the board member development post.
Another lady, Charity Lingani Nkomo, will be the fixtures secretary.
The sport is likely to grow faster in Hwange and Tsholotsho districts where there is Lukosi and Gwayi rivers both with huge sand deposits. Beach soccer started in Brazil and has grown to be an international game. The participation of internationally renowned players such as flamboyant Frenchman and former Manchester United player Eric Cantona, legendary Spanish strikers Michel and Julio Salinas and Brazilian stars such as Romario, Junior and Zico has helped to expand television coverage to large audiences in over 170 countries worldwide, making beach soccer one of the fastest growing professional sports in the world and converting it into a major showcase for international commercial opportunity.
It is recognised by Fifa, with the biggest tournament being the World Cup, played after every two years across the world. Pioneers of the football version, Brazil, won the cup two times in the last three tournaments before losing it to Russia in Italy last year.
From 1995 to 2005 (inclusive), teams were selected for the World Cup. They did not have to qualify. However, with interest from so many countries, Fifa decided to standardise the format for the World Cup in 2006 for future World cups. Fifa agreed that countries from each confederation will play in Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers, with 16 teams eventually qualifying for the finals. The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has two slots while Uefa has five, the highest number of entrants.
Russia are the defending world champions having ended Brazil’s dominance in the sport by a 12-8 scoreline in the final last year and have already made indications that they want to play host to the 2015 edition.
The sport is one of the fastest growing disciplines with sound corporate backing at international level and the local football leadership is aware of its potential and an official has already said that they will take the sport seriously and will help promote it.
“Beach soccer is a sport that has grown throughout the world as various knockout competitions are being held. As an association, we will take the sport seriously and we will work with the relevant stakeholders in promoting it,” Zifa board member competitions, Benedict Moyo, was quoted as saying by our sister paper Sunday News.