Online Reporter
Blessing Malinganiza-Zimpapers Sports Hub
A YEAR AGO they felt untouchable.
Their names dominated the back pages. Their goals and tackles lived in conversations on buses and in beer halls.
Week after week, they were the players who gave shape to a season many supporters still talk about with a certain longing, a campaign that felt competitive, unpredictable, alive.
The Soccer Stars of 2025 were supposed to be the faces of continuity, the core of a league ready to grow around them.
Instead, they disappeared.
Football moves quickly, and even by local standards the shift was sudden.
Before the new season could settle into rhythm, the stars had scattered. Some crossed borders, chasing bigger leagues and better deals.
Others found themselves tangled in stalled transfers and contract complications. A handful remained, trying to build again in familiar surroundings, even as the ground beneath them kept shifting.
The off-season strips away the applause. It reveals what the game really is.
Emmanuel Jalai’s exit felt like the moment everything changed. Dynamos supporters had watched him mature season after season, a reliable defender who slowly grew into leadership.
Even during difficult stretches, his presence offered a sense of stability. When the news broke that he had joined Durban City in South Africa, the reaction carried more acceptance than shock.
The temporary retirement of his number 2 jersey said everything. It was a rare gesture, an acknowledgement that some departures leave an emptiness no tactical adjustment can immediately fill.
For Jalai, the timing made sense. Six seasons, more than 150 appearances, silverware earned along the way.
The move felt like a reward rather than an escape. For Dynamos, it was another reminder that keeping top players is often beyond sentiment.
Isheanesu Mauchi’s story nearly followed a similar script. The move looked done in the minds of supporters long before the final documents arrived.
TS Galaxy wanted him, and he was ready for the next step. Then the process stalled.
A FIFA-related transfer issue froze the deal at the last moment. Mauchi refused to commit without clear guarantees, and the transfer collapsed. He remains at Simba Bhora, though it feels like a pause rather than permanence.
At his stage of development, standing still rarely lasts long.
Aboubakar Moffat’s move caused a different reaction.
MWOS had built real momentum, finishing second and convincing many that something meaningful was taking shape.
Losing a key midfielder to rivals Scottland cut deeper than most transfers.
Dressing rooms feel these changes long before supporters fully understand them. Coaches speak about replacing players as if it is straightforward. Replacing influence is harder.
MWOS coach Lloyd Mutasa has chosen patience, insisting new leaders will emerge. The coming weeks will test that belief.
Not every story carried uncertainty.
Billy Veremu’s decision to stay on permanently at MWOS after a successful loan offered something rare in local football — continuity.
His goals and assists made him the type of player who lifts crowds before touching the ball.
Norton believe he can anchor a title challenge, and in a league defined by movement, choosing to stay almost feels like a statement of intent.
Elsewhere, things remain unresolved.
Andrew Mbeba’s situation at Highlanders has drifted beyond football into questions about trust and promises.
He has kept away from training as negotiations drag on, his future complicated by injury concerns and uncertainty about what comes next. Clubs watch, interested but cautious.
It is the quieter side of football, the stretches where careers hang in limbo while the rest of the game moves forward.
Highlanders cannot afford to wait forever. Pre-season never slows down for unresolved stories.
Washington Navaya’s departure changed the mood in Gweru. TelOne had started to believe they could push beyond survival and become genuine contenders.
Infrastructure improved, ambition grew and expectations followed. Losing a Soccer Star finalist hurt, but the response was swift.
New signings arrived, and club officials spoke openly about aiming for the top four.
The message was clear. Progress means accepting that departures are inevitable.
Scottland have approached the new season with noise and intent. A pre-season camp in South Africa, high-profile signings and talk already drifting towards continental football.
Kevin Moyo remains part of that project, though nothing feels guaranteed in a squad built for immediate success. Competition has become relentless.
The arrival of Isaskar Gurirab and Emmanuel Ziocha underline that ambition.
One brings finishing ability shaped by experience, the other offers creativity capable of unlocking tight games.
Yet large squads come with their own pressure. Reputation alone does not secure a place.
Jarrison Selemani has quietly chosen another path. While many moved on, he stayed at FC Platinum, becoming central to Joel Luphahla’s rebuilding effort.
In a season defined by exits, remaining loyal almost feels unusual. Stability, though, can be its own opportunity.
Then there is William Thole. Goalkeepers often live away from the spotlight, watching chaos unfold from a distance.
His calm presence and command of the box earned him the Golden Glove, and as clubs around him reshape themselves, his consistency has become one of the few fixed points.
Taken together, their stories say something larger than transfer headlines. They reflect a league in constant transition, one where ambition grows faster than stability and success quickly becomes a stepping stone.
There were 11 Soccer Stars last year. Eleven different journeys began the moment the season ended.
Some chased long-held professional dreams. Others pursued security. Yet others found themselves negotiating futures that once felt certain.
Maybe that is the real story.
Zimbabwean football keeps producing players who cannot stand still for long.
Clubs build, lose, rebuild again.
Fans attach themselves to players knowing the goodbye might come sooner than expected.
The cycle continues because the game never pauses for emotion.
As the 2026 season approaches, Jalai settles into life in Durban.
Aboubakar prepares to face former teammates in new colours.
Veremu sharpens for another title push. Mbeba waits for clarity that still feels just out of reach.
Last year they stood on one stage, united as the league’s finest. Now, they move along different roads, connected only by a season that briefly brought them together.
The stars have moved on.
The question, as always, is: Who rises next?
