Zimbabwe begin CAF Schools Championship journey

Tadious Manyepo, Sports Reporter

EXCITEMENT is building in junior development circles following the ZIFA Normalisation Committee’s commitment to second teams in the CAF African Schools Championship.

Zimbabwe could not compete in the inaugural competition which was launched last year due to a FIFA ban.

But, the Normalisation Committee have pulled all the strings to afford the Under-15 school-going players an opportunity to play on the continental scene following the lifting of the FIFA suspension.

The final tournament of the CAF African Schools Championship is scheduled for April next year at a yet-to-be-determined venue but the journey for Zimbabwean players starts this weekend with a national fiesta at Allan Wilson School in Harare.

Eight teams each for both girls and boys are billed to take to the field with a panel of selectors expected to pick the best players who will represent the country at the Southern African zonal qualifiers to be held in December with the location again not yet confirmed.

Ordinarily, the journey to the national finals should start from district level but since there were no structures running football at ZIFA level before July due to the FIFA freeze, that couldn’t happen and the ZIFA Normalisation Committee have engaged different key stakeholders to put together the competition.

Naph and Nash are each expected to field a single team for both girls and boys, so is Herentals Group of Colleges.

The Zimbabwe Independent Colleges and Association of Trust Schools will enter two teams each while the hosts will have a boys’ team and the outstanding girls team will come from Girls High School.

Addressing the media in Harare yesterday, FIFA Forward manager Kudzi Chitima said the ZIFA Normalisation Committee was determined to bridge the gap between junior development and professional football.