Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, Zimpapers Sports Hub
MBEKEZELI Manzini Sibanda speaks with the calm certainty of a footballer who knows his road has been longer than most, but no less purposeful.
At 30, the Slovakia based midfielder believes the hard lessons, the quiet years and the slow climb through Europe’s lower leagues have shaped him for something bigger.
Like many players who slipped through the cracks of the demanding Bulawayo Junior Soccer League, Sibanda learned early that progress would not be gifted. It had to be earned, hour by hour, far from home.
A former Highlanders player in 2019, Sibanda is currently plying his trade in Slovakia with Second Division side Lepota, a club whose rise mirrors his own steady development.
“It has been a long journey playing in that country’s lower leagues. We started off in Division Four and this year we are in Division Two. It has not been an easy walk to be where we are and I have seen myself grow up as a person and footballer on the pitch.
“A lot of hard work, learning football philosophies of many coaches and adjusting to the intricacies of being a foreigner in Europe, has toughened me,” said Sibanda.
The season began brutally for Lepota, a harsh introduction to life in the professional ranks. Seventeen matches in, the scars remain, but so does belief.
“We lost our first eight matches and soldiered on. We got a new coach and things have started happening where we have won five matches and drawn four. I am enjoying my football and working hard all the time so that I may get a better team or offers in neighbouring Austria and other countries,” said Sibanda.
With 19 points on the board, the club has stabilised, and Sibanda feels his own game has found clarity. He calls himself a late bloomer, without apology, and still carries a quiet international ambition.
“At 30 I am not discounting myself from representing my country. I will keep on putting on a good shift to achieve a childhood dream of playing for Zimbabwe. To the Warriors I am saying good luck in Morocco,” said Sibanda.
His journey began at Boca Juniors, where promise was briefly interrupted by family insistence on education. School came first. Football waited.
After completing his studies, he had trials with several South African clubs before landing at Talen Vision in 2016. There, his discipline and raw ability caught the eye of Miroslav Nemec, who took him to Slovakia a year later.
A return home followed in 2019 when he signed for Highlanders, but momentum was halted once more when the Covid-19 pandemic shut football down.
In 2022, Sibanda resurfaced with Manzini Wanderers in Eswatini, spending six months before returning to Slovakia. It was there that he witnessed Lepota’s remarkable transition from amateur outfit to a professional club.
“That I got the team from amateur ranks to the professional ranks is something that I will always cherish with my team. It has been a roller-coaster ride,” said Sibanda.
Now, even as he pushes for the next move on the pitch, Sibanda is already thinking beyond it. He has opened a shop in the city centre and begun laying foundations for life after football.
“I need to start planning about life after the game. It is better I do it now while still earning a salary than to wait until am retired,” said Sibanda, who also plans to bring in a state-of-the-art camera to help profile amateur and lower division players.
