Five-day Fifa youth Course begins Roy Millar
Roy Millar

Roy Millar

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Northern Ireland technical director and Under-21 coach Roy Millar says if ZIFA put in place proper football structures starting from the grassroots level the country will realise success in football.

The veteran junior coach is here for a five-day FIFA Youth Course where he is instructing local coaches involved with junior football in clubs and schools at the ZIFA Village.

Speaking during the course’s official opening ceremony at the ZIFA Village yesterday, Millar said if proper football structures are put in place, the national teams will excel.

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He said this while also congratulating the country for the Mighty Warriors’ qualification for the Olympic Games and the Africa Cup of Nations.

“Quite often I will talk about the development of the overall game, the whole game and people will ask me how you develop the whole game. And my answer to that has been what is the most important thing to develop in a game of football, and it is the players.

“Players are the most important in developing the game of football because if there are no players you have no game.

“After developing the players then you must develop the coaches because you want to make your players better. How do you make your players better? By developing better coaches.

“How do you develop the whole game of football? By developing good administration and then you look at developing referees, you look at developing the medical side of the game and you look at developing the facilities side of the game.

“But the most important person is the young player because if you don’t get the grassroots right then if you happen to go at the Africa Cup of Nations one year it is by chance, it is not by design.

“By design I mean putting those structures in place with the coaches, with the facilities with the referees with good administration.

“I sincerely hope Zimbabwe are at the beginning of a new process like that and I wish them well. It will cost a lot of money and you have to work with your government as well as FIFA,” he said.

ZIFA acting general secretary Joseph Mamutse challenged the coaches to put into practice what they would have learnt.

“This is a huge youth coaching course and this should not be a talk show. After the course we expect knowledge that would have been acquired from here to be delivered and youths are waiting out there for what you have learnt at this course.

“Youths are the nursery for football and if you have a very bad nursery and don’t have good beginning of youths you won’t have a good product,” said Mamutse.

Millar has run this course in other African countries such Botswana, Kenya, Tunisia, Gabon and Ghana.

Participants

Cephas Bobo, Tafirenyika Tsoro, Farai Charekera, Besel Phiri, Rodney Akende, Mahachi Admire, Clemence Chimimba, Temba Ngwenya, Effort Murigomo, Alexio Sigion, Nemera Pedzisai, Chomuda Mercy, Bridget Sibanda, Gwinyai Chakwakwama, Gift Lunga, Mukwata Paddington, Gift Phiri, Melusi Sibanda, Innocent Ndlovu, Oscar Sanava, Godfrey Mukanganwa, Timothy Masachi, Dominic Sibanda, Bright Kumwembe, Mathew Makwerere, Beaullar, Sisa Moyo, Sophia Sitalichi, Kashiri Innocent, Mavangira Tafadzwa, Muzunde Actor.

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