Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, Zimpapers Sports Hub
FORMER Highlanders and Zimbabwe striker Zenzo Moyo has urged local footballers to build a legacy wherever they play abroad.
Moyo has just returned from Cyprus where he spent nearly two weeks with Pafos, the club that signed him from Highlanders in 2000 when he was in a lethal partnership with speedster Joel Luphahla and skillful Thabani Masawi, guiding Bosso to back-to-back league titles.
He moved with Luphahla and spent four years together there.
Moyo described his welcome as humbling. “The reception was very good. I felt very welcome and loved. I could hardly believe the respect and affection the Cypriots showed. It reminded me of the Bible story where Jesus’ own people did not celebrate him. They called him the carpenter’s son,” he said.
Moyo later moved to Olympiakos Nicosia in 2004. On this visit he met Pafos management, former teammates and long time supporters, and even visited Temis Agathokleous, who now manages Akritas Chloraka in the Cypriot First Division.
“Yes, I had the chance to tour around. I met my former teammates, club supporters, businesses that backed the club during my time and even other teams. We spoke about many areas of interest and hopefully one business idea will help local players get to Europe,” he said.
The former Bosso hitman said players must be good ambassadors whenever they play overseas. He said generations that played abroad before them had done nothing to ensure others follow and gave a comparison of West Africans who do not hesitate to facilitate deals for their kin.
“I realised that if we live up to expectations, these teams do not forget their former players. They will always have a role for them and they recognise them in whatever way as they remain part of the football ecosystem and club history.”
Moyo said he was touched by the fact that many people still remember him.
“It was great to meet so many people I lived with 21 years ago. They could still remember me even in the streets and shops. Pafos made me feel humbled and at the same time honoured by their great gesture. I enjoyed myself and look forward to assisting in whatever way to extend their visibility in my country and perhaps someday have players from home getting opportunities to play there,” said Moyo.
He also revealed plans to give young Zimbabweans a European platform.
“I got assurances that teams will be invited for Under-19 tournaments so that scouts from Europe and Cyprus can watch our kids. The challenge now is for our boys abroad to influence so that more players get to play outside the country. It takes hard work and commitment to be trusted to bring good development teams or players,” he said.
Moyo and Luphahla’s exploits in Cyprus opened doors for other players from Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe through the efforts of Botswana-based agent Spyros Nicollau.
“I would love to see more of our former colleagues honoured at their clubs and to keep building relationships that can help export more talent,” Moyo said.
He described his 12 days back at the club he calls home as time well spent.
Moyo’s former club Pafos is playing in the Champions League and he was at the stadium on August 26 as they qualified for the group stages of the competition where they have been drawn to clash with Atalanta, Barcelona, Benfica, Ajax, Napoli, Qarabag and Bayern Munich.
It is the first time they are playing at this level, thanks to the new club owner who has invested in good players and conditions that have even attracted David Luiz who played for teams like Benfica, Chelsea, PSG, Flamengo and Arsenal in the process making US$118 million for the clubs.
“It is good to see the team grow so much in stature,”said Moyo.
I think former players should aim to reverse the trend by helping improve football in Africa. This narrative that success in football is measured by an African player playing in Europe must stop. Now we see players that played in such mediocre leagues like Greek, Polish, Moldova, 6th or 7th leagues in Spain and England coming back home boasting that they played in Europe and advise up and coming players to go to countries to such countries. As Africa we must aim to attract players from foreign countries into our leagues. Some teams in South Africa have already started attracting players from South America and Eastern Europe.
That our African Leagues are still inferior to our European counterparts will not change in the immediate future we are still far behind, look at our stadia or lack of and should our teams ever play those teams we would lose most matches the Club world cup has just been a testament to that fact. We used to have teams come over and play our teams in the 80’s I don’t remember our teams delivering masterful perfomance’s, then so our players should indeed move to those lower leagues and move to the bigger leagues i.e Benjani Mwaruwari did.