Online Reporter
Langton Nyakwenda, Zimpapers Sports Hub
IT is a puzzle that continues to haunt Zimbabwean football, why do so many of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s Most Promising Player winners vanish before their prime?
At this year’s Cosafa Cup in Bloemfontein, one name stood tall: Allan Chapinduka, a calm and commanding 20-year-old centre-back. The TelOne defender looked every bit a future Warriors pillar. But Zimbabwean fans have seen this before, and not all stories end well.
Chapinduka follows a long line of young talents once tipped for stardom. Among them is Andrew Mbeba, the 2019 winner of the Most Promising Player award. Now 25, Mbeba is still at Highlanders, the same club that groomed him, yet the foreign breakthrough that once seemed inevitable remains elusive.
So too for Tatenda Tumba, the tiny magician who danced past defenders for Harare City back in 2018. That year, he took the league by storm. Today, Harare City languishes outside the topflight and Tumba’s career appears to have stalled.
Jayden Barake was next, a Glen Norah born striker who netted nine goals for Whawha in 2021/22 and sparked a tug of war between Dynamos and Highlanders. But like those before him, the flame has dimmed. Now 22, Barake has scored just once for CAPS United this season and has struggled to make a lasting mark.
Even Elton Chikona, the 2023 winner, has faded from the spotlight. At Dynamos, a team with just four goals in 14 matches, Chikona has rarely featured, lost in a system that seems unable to nurture young flair.
Enter Allan Chapinduka. The TelOne defender is trying to rewrite the script.
“Cosafa is a perfect stage for locally based players to showcase their talent in front of international scouts and coaches,” Chapinduka told Zimpapers Sports Hub.
“So, I’ve grabbed this opportunity with both hands.”
A product of the famed Aces Youth Soccer Academy, Chapinduka has made seven starts for TelOne this season and credits veterans like Frank Makarati and Tafadzwa Jaravani for helping him mature.
“If you have a player like Frank (Makarati) by your side, you know you are safe,” he said.
His rise has been swift. After impressing at the Under-20 Four Nations Tournament, Chapinduka caught the eye of then Harare City coach Herbert “Jompano” Maruwa, who invited him to train with the Sunshine Boys. When Maruwa moved to TelOne last year, he took the youngster with him.
“He believed in me even before I had played a competitive game,” said Chapinduka.
“He gave me confidence and threw me into the deep end. I want to repay that faith.”
TelOne currently sit sixth on the PSL log with 21 points, nine behind leaders MWOS, and the club has been one of the season’s surprise packages.
With the Premiership coming from a pause for the Fifa break, the nation’s gaze which was firmly at Cosafa, is now back at the PSL and the question is whether Chapinduka can succeed where so many before him have stumbled.
Because in Zimbabwean football, potential has a habit of disappearing.
