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Philip Chiyangwa

Chipo Sabeta Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA and COSAFA president Philip Chiyangwa will this week lead a delegation to the Confederation of African Football symposium in Rabat, Morocco, that is expected to chart a new era for the continental game, under the leadership of Ahmad.

Chiyangwa, who is in the United States on COSAFA business, will link up with acting ZIFA chief executive Joseph Mamutse and technical director Wilson Mutekede who left Harare yesterday.

The high-level symposium is also expected to outline CAF’s expectations on the countries that will be hosting the African Cup of Nations and will review how bids to stage the competition have previously been done.

According to the programme for the two-day indaba which will also be attended by FIFA president Gianni Infantinno and Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, the delegates will also look at such key issues like marketing, media and the technical aspects of the game.

Acting CAF general-secretary Essam Ahmed indicated in his circular that the symposium is aimed at outlining the vision that Ahmad, who ended Issa Hayatou’s 29-year rule of CAF, has for the continental game.

“Rabat, the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco, is the city chosen to host the symposium aimed at developing the vision of African football led by CAF President Ahmad for the next decade.

“The symposium will focus on issues related to the various CAF competitions, particularly its format, periodicity and organisation.

“From 18-19 July, 2017, various stakeholders involved in the development of African football notably players, referees, coaches, journalists, administrators, etc. will meet to deliberate on the future of the game on the continent.

“Each Member Association will be represented by at least the president of the association, general-secretary and the national coach. “The symposium programme includes the following seven topics;

1. African Cup of Nations: the competition

2. African Cup of Nations: the host country’s specifications

3. Interclub Competitions

4. Youth Football

5. Football and Development

6. Communication and Media

7. Marketing and TV

“Working groups will be composed around the above topics. The Symposium will be followed by a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee and an Extraordinary General Assembly on 21 July 2017, all in Rabat,’’ Ahmed said.

CAF also want delegates to drawn from various stakeholders to review the nations Cup and other competitions under the Confederation especially “its format, periodicity and organisation”.

Apart from leaders of member associations, refereeing experts, players, coaches, journalists and administrators have been invited to the symposium.

Meanwhile, ZIFA’s Women football administrator, Theresa Maguraushe is in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, attending a two-day football leadership workshop.

Maguraushe who left the country on Thursday afternoon is among an elite group of female football leaders at a networking programme which is being graced by the FIFA general-secretary, Fatma Samoura.

The convention was organised by FIFA in association with the UEFA. According to the ZIFA website, the weekend convention was a follow-up to previous programmes which the participants took part in.

“Among other things, the weekend convention will act as a follow-up programme for all participants, following their previous participation in the FIFA Female Leadership development Programme and the UEFA Women in Football Leadership Programme.

“The event will provide women within international football with the possibility to interact, share notes as well as enhance individual leadership skills in order to come up with tailor made solutions to counter challenges faced by women in football.

“Ms Maguraushe is among the only ten female leaders in football from Africa who were invited to partake in the important capacity-building workshop.

“Previously, she has been to Switzerland and the Netherlands, among other destinations, where she exchanged ideas with other female leaders from various countries,’’ wrote www.zifa.org.zw.