Women football coaches complete course

Midlands Correspondent
SIXTEEN female Zimbabwe Women’s Football Central Region coaches completed a Pre-Level 1 course held in Gweru at the weekend. The coaches drawn from clubs and schools from the region were awarded certificates after passing the course conducted by Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches Association (Zisca) secretary-general Innocent Chogugudza.

Chogugudza said he was impressed that women outnumbered men at the coaching course and encouraged the participants to enrol for the Zifa Level 1 course.

Zimbabwe Women’s Football Central Region secretary-general Brightwell Kadenge said the courses would help improve the standard of play in the region.

“We want to improve the quality of football in the region. We also want to impart life skills and values like fair play, team work and ubuntu, and we hope to use women’s football as a toolkit for development and socio-economic transformation,” said Kadenge.

“Given the ongoing situation affecting women’s football and women in general, a Pre-Level 1 coaching workshop to equip coaches will help us achieve our strategic plan. Given that the Mighty Warriors’ team qualified for the Rio Olympics, our desire is to develop players that meet the national grade cognisant of the fact that we have only one player from the region in the national team.”

Zifa has introduced minimum qualifications for coaches to sit on the bench in men’s football in a move aimed at improving footballing standards.

Under the new guidelines, PSL coaches should have a Caf A licence or a Caf B licence while working towards attaining the Caf A licence.

Assistant coaches are now required to have at least a Caf C licence. PSL goalkeepers’ coaches should have a Caf C licence and a goalkeeper coaching certificate.

Division one coaches are required to have a Caf C licence or a Zifa Level 4 certificate, while assistant coaches need at least a Zifa Level 4 licence.