Govt, ZIFA in landmark schools football deal

ZIFA might just have scored a huge goal after inking an epoch-changing football development Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in Harare yesterday.

The quality of the game in the country has sharply deteriorated with stakeholders pointing at flaws in the development pathways for which schools play an integral part.

FIFA have also unveiled football for schools programme, from which the initiative between ZIFA and the Government can tap into.

And with sport science clearly suggesting that a footballer needs at least 10 000 hours at development level to fully realise their potential, schools have not really been playing their part as the game is played only during the Second Term.

Most of the teachers who coach in schools are also unqualified and the MoU seeks to address this through a requirement for those taking charge in the institutions of learning to hold a minimum CAF B Licence within the next two years.

The MoU was signed between ZIFA president Nqobile Magwizi and permanent secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Moses Mhike.

Magwizi said the MoU, initially for five years was a legacy move in the growth of the game in the country.

“I am happy to finally get to this day where we are signing the MoU where the ministry has made a decision to work hand-in-hand with ZIFA in shaping the next generation of athletes in Zimbabwe,’’ Magwizi said.

“I think it is very important to express our gratitude to the government of Zimbabwe of course in particular through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education who have done amazing things for us, for ZIFA.

“The Ministry of course has long been the cradle of sporting excellence and this is the place where most of our greatest footballers were first discovered when their love for the sport was discovered and nurtured in those dirty grounds playing for nothing but just passion.

“This MoU is built on a proud legacy, and it of course formalises what has always been true that football and education are not separate, they’re not separate parts at all but complementary forces and through this partnership we are integrating structured football development into the national education system, nurturing talent from the classroom to the network stage and ensuring that every boy and girl in Zimbabwe has an opportunity to learn to play and to grow through discipline.

The ZIFA president reiterated his association’s commitment to ensuring the MoU is a success.

“As ZIFA, we commit ourselves fully to this collaboration. We will provide technical expertise, capacity building for teachers and pathways that link school football with our youth academies, our regional centres and schools of excellence that we’ve spoken about, and of course our national teams.

“One of the things that will be happening as of next year is we are going to then be having provincial leagues from Under-13, 15 and 17 involved.

“Each province will have its provincial team. And through the league, we’ll make sure that the best among them in those age groups can be drafted into a national Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17.

“We know we will have the databases of our best performers. So that all the drama that has been experienced previously, that drama will not be happening. There is a working committee that will be established, and you know, when you are working with the Ministry, we will have to achieve. We will have our technical director and others in that committee.”

The MoU will be in force for the next five years and it will be renewed subject to its feasibility. Mhike said school football will never be the same again.

“We are not only talking about the boy child. You know, we need to churn out the next Kwinji 15 (former Mighty Warriors player and now women’s national coach Sithethelelwe Sibanda), and we can only be able to do that provided we coordinate ourselves and we can then be able to move, I think, as a nation.

“And one of the things that we have agreed with ZIFA is to say now that we have signed this, we need to come up with a kind of work plan,” said Mhike. Herald