Online Reporter
Eddie Chikamhi
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE Zimbabwe Under-17 team’s elimination from the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations 2026/COSAFA qualifiers currently underway in Harare left a bitter taste in the mouth for the local faithful.
The Young Warriors crashed out after finishing third in Group A behind Mozambique and Comoros, to miss out on the ticket to the semi-finals of the tournament.
It also meant their hopes of playing in next year’s CAF Under-17 AFCON and the FIFA 2026 World Cup were dashed with those defeats to Mozambique and Comoros and the draw against Eswatini during the group games.
However, ZIFA president Nqobile Magwizi believes the lessons picked from the tournament will be priceless going forward.
He revealed before the tournament that ZIFA already had long-term plans to transform youth football in the country by going back to the basics where they work closely with schools and grassroots structures.
Magwizi and his executive inherited a broken system when they got into office early this year, which made it difficult to prepare the youth team adequately for the tournament.
While their group opponents like Mozambique and Comoros are products of two years of intense training, coupled with training camps in France and Portugal, Magwizi admitted the system could not afford the home team such an ideal preparation.
But he said his executive was working on creating an enabling environment with systems that support junior football growth and excellence.
“So, you will notice that this year, we came in as an executive in January, and of course there’s a number of responsibilities that we are trying to address, areas where we have seen that there are challenges and we are, of course, putting together frameworks to make the system work more efficiently,” he said.
“One of the key things that you speak to is the issue of the scouting of our national teams. We had to go around the country identifying talent.
“But going into the future, we have to establish teams at provincial level that are functional on an ongoing basis. We need to have a functional under-13 at provincial level, a functional under-15, a functional under-17 at provincial level.
“This is where the national team is built out of. On an ongoing basis, we should have tournaments for these teams, interprovincial tournaments. And out of these, we then pick out our national under-17, our national under-15, our national under-13,” said Magwizi.
Zimbabwean football is emerging from a difficult chapter. The country endured a turbulent period, marked first by the global COVID-19 pandemic and later by the FIFA suspension that left the game in isolation.
During this wilderness period, grassroots development – the lifeblood of any football nation – suffered immensely. Proper youth structures, academies, and talent pathways were neglected, and the effects showed in the COSAFA results.
ZIFA have since roped in expatriate Technical Director Dominique Niyonzima to drive the programme. The system will also work in tandem with the National Head of Primary Schools (NASH) and the National Head of Secondary Schools (NAPH).
“Of course, working closely with NAPH and NASH, it is very important. At any point, any given point in time, 2026 going forward, the TD (technical director) or the head of technical should be able to give you from our TD’s system.
“We must be able to tell you who our top 23 under 17 are nationally without having to go scouting. We must have that system on an ongoing basis. And it is my view that this is going to happen in 2026 going forward. We have learnt our lessons in 2025.
The tournament gave the platform to exciting talents such as roving leftback Seth Musarapachena, midfielder Jameson Nduna, Mbonisi Ndlovu, Tadiwa Chakuchichi, Darrel Zulu, Awakhiwe Tshalibe, Elshaddai Sadomba and energetic goalkeeper Siyanda Zimba.
