Online Reporter
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWE Football Association Manicaland is forming a Division Two League for women, and has invited schools, academies, companies, tertiary institutions and communities to register clubs.
Women’s football in Manicaland, like in sister provinces, Masvingo and Mashonaland East in the Eastern Region, has not been developing across all parts of the province.
Only one Mutare-based team, Faithdrive FC, has been playing in the elite Women’s Premier Soccer League.
Nine teams, all, but one based in Mutare, have been playing in the Eastern Region Division One. There have been no Division Two or Three leagues in Manicaland Province.
ZIFA Manicaland board member (development), Frank Bhunu, confirmed the formation of the Division Two League for women.
“We are in the process of establishing a Division Two League for women. This is for 2027. There are a lot of activities happening in football. For example, we are participating in the BancABC Grassroots Impact Programme, Under-16 and U-14 for both boys and girls, and we are playing in the Munhumutapa Cup. This means we need to have proper structures as far as women football is concerned.
“This is the reason why we are coming up with this Division Two League for women. They need to acclimatise to organised football at lower levels and grow up from there,” said Bhunu.
He said the board intends to have teams from marginalised areas participating.
“We are also targeting marginalised areas. We are targeting to have two teams from Chimanimani, the same with Buhera, Chipinge, Mutasa, Nyanga and Makoni districts. It is purely developmental.
“So we are expecting teams to start registering with the league. We are also trying to get a number of partners so that we make it less costly in terms of travelling. We are encouraging teams to register so that they benefit from this initiative. This will also ensure that they partake in all other football activities that are being rolled out by ZIFA as I have alluded to before. The formation of a Division Two League for women is also meant for schools, academies, companies, tertiary institutions and communities,” said Bhunu.
