Zifa hail VW Zimbabwe sponsorship

association’s development programmes have, over the years, often been stalled by both a lack of vision on the part of the administrators and limited resources as much of the funding was chewed up by the senior national team.
But FCM Motors through their VW franchise have since 2010 come on board to fund the local edition of the VW Junior Masters, which caters for Under-13 boys.
On Saturday provincial Under-13 teams converged at Belgravia Sports Club in the capital as a panel of selectors led former Warriors and Darryn T defender John Phiri picked a 26-member squad which will be trimmed to 16 boys who will represent Zimbabwe at the 2012 VW World Junior Masters in Poland next month.
Zimbabwe made their maiden appearance at the VW World Junior Masters in Madrid, Spain two years ago and won the hearts of many neutrals with their brave run that saw them upstage one of the pre-tournament favourites Italy 2-0.
As coach Peter Ndlovu prepares to take the next crop of emerging talent to Poland, Zifa have lauded VW Zimbabwe for their commitment to junior football with the association’s board member for development Benedict “Grinder’’ Moyo paying glowing tribute to the company’s managing director Fred Mtanda and his team for their efforts.
Moyo was at Belgravia Sports Club and left a satisfied man after watching the young boys battle for recognition by the team of selectors.
“This is proper development because there is no trophy at stake which helps the kids to compete and express themselves freely.
“We must also commend (Zimabawe Junior Football League chairman) Zifa Chiyangwa, Lloyd Chigove and their committee, they have been a vibrant team that has been setting up structures around the country and you can see that we are on track now,’’ Moyo said.
“As Zifa we are taking advantage of the VW sponsorship to select the national Under-13 team because all provinces are represented. We just hope that more players come on board for the Under-15 and Under-17 age groups. At junior level it is not just about winning, of course you play to win but we are using a basic criteria to choose players and we have a team of six led by John Phiri who are identifying the players and we have our secretariat who have opened a database of these kids.
“Last month we held an Under-14 tournament and we also collected the players’ database. The atmosphere here is very conducive for development and we really need more people to come on board,’’ Moyo said.
Moyo said he was also happy to note that VW had tasked Zifa with running the tournament and had also funded the provincial teams’ travel and accommodation.
“It’s also positive that the sponsors have not only chipped in financially but allowed the football people that is Zifa to run the show.
“He (Mtanda) could have formed a team and then seek Zifa’s clearance to go to Poland but because VW are unique sponsors, they chose to go national and also subsidises the participating teams.
“We now want to use a similar format to identify the Under-17 squad that will go to Zambia for the Zone VI Games in December. With the senior national team it is the coach and his technical crew who identify the players because that is a very much result oriented team and if the results do not come he gets fired.
“But with development it is everyone who is involved and that is why we have a panel of selectors’’.
Moyo also saluted the Zimbabwe Junior Football leadership which has been working hard to revive development programmes since assuming office in 2010.
With the major phase of the selection now over, it up to Warriors legend Ndlovu to trim his enlarged squad and pick a cream of 16 who will do duty in Poland.
Ndlovu and his former Warriors teammate Edzai Kasinauyo are also the VW football ambassadors for Zimbabwe and Moyo also lauded the duo for “working to ensure that we have a unique tournament that provides a platform for us to catch them young’’.