Online Reporter
Langton Nyakwenda-Zimpapers Sports Hub
WEST African table soccer powerhouses, Ghana, have pledged to work closely with Zimbabwe, who are on a drive to professionalise the sport across the country.
Popularly known as slug, table soccer or foosball is now a professional game in Zimbabwe with some star players like Douglas “Macheso” Matambanaishe earning a living through the game.
Matambanashe headlined the Zimbabwe table soccer national team that thrashed Ghana in a Heroes challenge match in Harare on Tuesday.
The hosts won 4-0 in the singles matches and 2-1 in the doubles.
Ghana Table Soccer president Kwesi Adeaba was impressed with Zimbabwean players and pledged to work closely with the local leadership.
“Our play in West Africa is different from that of Southern Africa.
“Southern African players have speed and I have realised they are also highly technical,” Adeaba said.
Ghana will host Zimbabwe in Accra in November.
Zimbabwe and Ghana have enjoyed warm relations dating back to the country’s liberation struggle, which culminated in this country’s Independence while the late former President Robert Mugabe married his late first wife — Amai Sally — from Ghana.
“And that’s called real friendship; the bilateral relationship has been there since then.
“And it is continuing. Table Soccer has come to bless this relationship more.
“The relationship between Ghana and Zimbabwe in terms of table soccer will grow bigger and bigger,” said Adeaba.
The Zimbabwe Table Soccer Association used the Heroes tournament to test the country’s capacity to host international matches.
Zimbabwe is bidding to host the 2026 Table Soccer Africa Cup of Nations.
“As a country we have got our sport and tourism strategy that we are adopting as a country.
“We want to make sure Zimbabwe is a safe sporting destination in all facets,” said ZTSA president Coxwell Chigwanha.
“As table soccer, we have decided to take the lead from the government’s strategic vision by hosting Ghana in a tournament that was endorsed by the International Table Soccer Federation, which is the world body.
“We hope that in 2026, if all conditions are correct, we want to host the Africa Cup of Nations for table soccer here in Zimbabwe.” “Previously, table soccer was not professional in Zimbabwe but we have seen a steady progress.
“We have played a number of local tournaments, but we were having problems playing internationally.
“So, we had to lobby other countries by sending videos of our players playing. From these kinds of engagements Ghana saw us and they accepted to play us.
“We are professionalising the sport because this was just a sport for leisure. We now have corporate sponsorship from Betterbrands who have supported us through and through,” Chigwanha said.
