Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIFA’S commitment to revive grassroots football has gathered pace amid indications that it could soon start to bear fruit.
The soccer mother body have devolved the responsibility of growing the game to their affiliate structures in the Area Zones, provinces and regions.
This week, administrators from provinces, districts and Area Zones converged at the ZIFA Village in Mt Hampden to engage, plan and realign their structures in line with the recently introduced competitions.
The workshop was focused on the Talent Development Scheme, the BancABC Roots Impact Programme and the ZIFA Munhumutapa Challenge Cup.
ZIFA also shared plans for a new grassroots competition aimed at developing young talent, including female players.
The proposed junior league is designed to provide a structured pathway from school-level football to national representation.
ZIFA Competitions and Projects manager, Kudzai Chitima, told Zimpapers Sports Hub that said, “This was largely meant to strengthen understanding, bring cohesion and improve coordination across all ZIFA affiliates.
“We want to create a conducive environment for the roll out of the various programmes that ZIFA are trying to implement this year.”
Under the TDS, ZIFA intend to identify talent at a young age and through their structures nurture the athletes into a competitive environment.
These athletes will be earmarked to eventually form the core of the national junior and senior teams.
“Now there is also the BancABC Roots Impact League which was launched, here we are trying to create structures and competition at grassroots level.
“Teams will select each other in their respective provinces, come up with a provincial team (selects) who will converge for back-to-back competitions translating to 18 years each.”
Chitima added that their objective is to provide more game time, exposure and also allow for national team coaches to have a wider pool of players for selection.
The Roots Impact League will largely target the Under-14 and Under-16 age-groups while the TDS also targets the Under-13s, Under-15s and Under-17s.
During the meeting, it was also revealed that the ZIFA Munhumutapa Challenge Cup is scheduled to get underway in May, with the tournament’s inaugural draw pencilled in for next month.
The competition will bring together teams from lower divisions through to the elite level, following a format modelled along the iconic England FA Cup.
Chitima said most of the programmes are expected to kick-off in April.
“Already the organisers are winding up on the programme schedules to avoid clashes with ongoing league fixtures,” Chitima said.
“We will be operating within PSL fixtures for the regional and the provincial leagues, so we need to make sure that there are no clashes.
“The purpose of the workshop was to try and align all these programmes and ensure a smooth rollout of each… we also wanted everyone to understand how interlinked these projects are.
“We also have to look into the competitions’ rules and regulations and the formats that we will be using, without interrupting already existing ones.”
The ZIFA comprehensive approach was praised by football administrators, emphasizing that the consultative programmes are important in football development across the country.
“We are happy to see that our input in such programs is being considered,” ZIFA Eastern Region football administrator, Fungai Munyoro, said.
“It has been discovered around the world that the top-to-bottom approach does not usually yield the results that you want, and you want to work with the people who are on the ground,” weighed in NASH national head in charge of football, Ropafadzo Matemavi.
“This move will promote football development, improve club competitiveness, and create pathways for talent discovery because at least 1 000 teams across genders will participate.”
