Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIFA have undertaken a strategic move in their approach to participation in international tournaments with the domestic football mother body resolving to miss out on the 2026 COSAFA Under-20 championships while they put their strictures in place.
The Young Warriors were conspicuous by their absence when 12 of the 14 Southern African teams went into the hat for the draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2027 COSAFA Qualifier yesterday.
The regional championship will be staged in Mauritius from September 18-27, with Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, hosts Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa and Zambia all entering the fray.
There will be much more than regional bragging rights at stake, with the tournament providing a pathway to the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2027, which is set to be staged in February and March next year.
Although the Young Warriors will not be part of that jamboree, ZIFA argued that they had taken a tough but calculated move to ensure they complete the on-going exercise to re-organise the junior football structures and “bounce back stronger’’.
The association issued a statement outlining their reasons behind their move.
“The Zimbabwe Football Association has taken a deliberate strategic decision regarding participation by our junior national teams in international competitions.
“Our approach is no longer simply to fulfil fixtures or enter tournaments for the sake of participation. We want every national team that represents Zimbabwe to do so with adequate preparation, a properly identified player pool and a clear technical programme.
“The decision regarding the Young Warriors’ participation in the upcoming tournament in Mauritius must therefore be understood within this broader approach and ZIFA’s Dream2030 strategy,” ZIFA said.
As they look to unveil the next Warriors coach before the end of the month, ZIFA are also set to announce their junior national teams coaches including those for the Under-15 Boys and Girls, Under-17 Boys and Girls and the Men and Women’s sides.
They are also expected to review and name a new technical crew for the Mighty Warriors.
ZIFA also added that they were involved in strengthening the development pathway that will feed the junior national teams.
This entails putting in place a structured scouting system that identifies players through competitions and development programmes such as the BancABC Roots Impact Programme and the ZIFA Munhumutapa Challenge Cup.
They will also look to tap into the Diaspora talent and those being churned out by academies.
“These platforms are giving young players meaningful competitive football while allowing our technical structures to identify and track talent across the country.”
ZIFA insisted that the coach appointments were imminent.
“This will ensure that each team has dedicated technical leadership responsible for scouting, player development, selection and preparation well ahead of international assignments.
“Our objective is to move away from assembling teams at short notice simply because a fixture or tournament is on the calendar.
“When Zimbabwe sends a junior national team into competition, we want that team to be properly selected, adequately prepared and genuinely competitive.
“This is a long-term process but it is an important part of building the player pathway envisioned under Dream2030.
“The ultimate objective is to develop generations of players who progress systematically through our junior national teams and are ultimately equipped to compete for places in the senior national team.”
ZIFA are also hoping to have a better database for young players to avoid cases of age-cheating which have previously rocked the Young Warriors teams.
Zimbabwe’s football, then under the leadership of Felton Kamambo were expelled from the COSAFA Men’s Under-17 Championship on November 20, 2020, after mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans in South Africa revealed age eligibility.
Apart from incidents of age-cheating concerns, ZIFA are also aware of complaints around selection manipulation with deserving talent from marginalised families, often controversially left out of the Young Warriors and Young Mighty Warriors squads.
ZIFA believe that a healthy junior national team programme that also casts its net wider, would provide a pipeline of players capable of stepping into the senior teams set up in line with the Dream 2030 and beyond.
