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Philip Chiyangwa

Sports Reporter
IN line with club licensing, ZIFA have announced that from next season they require all top-flight coaches to have a CAF A licence. This season the PSL allowed coaches who were CAF B holders but were in the process of attaining the highest coaching qualification badge in Africa to preside over top-flight matches as head coaches.

But from next season it is now mandatory for all the elite coaches and their assistants to be in possession of CAF A licence and local level four licence.

One of the tenets of club licensing is to have key qualified personnel employed by the clubs and this includes coaches as well as administrative personnel. And the country has made great strides in empowering local coaches through the association with 41 coaches now holders of CAF A while 114 have attained CAF B and 193 coaches are holders of CAF C.

ZIFA are also looking at having grassroots junior coaches as well as teachers to be better qualified with at least a minimum qualification of local level 2 and grassroots certificate in coaching.

ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa yesterday urged football academies to register with the association so that they move on the same page.

He was speaking at a brief function at his offices yesterday when he was presented with a trophy by Friendly Academy following their tour of the United Kingdom in July, where they won the New Balance Nottingham Cup, which featured under-18 select sides from countries as the hosts, USA, Canada and Australia.

“We are gathered here to honour the work of Friendly Football Academy and all other academies which are involved in scouting and nurturing football talent across the country.

“Friendly Academy toured England in July and they won all five of the matches that they participated in and they brought back a shield as testimony that they went to England and conquered. In that vein, I would like to encourage everyone here present to aspire to do more in as far as pushing the agenda of nurturing young talent is concerned.

“Academies are central to the Zimbabwe Football Association’s drive towards producing players who can compete at par with any other players on the globe. We have already appealed to all individuals and organisations to formally register their football academies with ZIFA so that we work closely with them by providing developmental material which FIFA avails to its members.

“We are ready to offer assistance to all football academies, but it is imperative that they also adhere to standards that they are obliged to follow, and that begins with affiliating to the mother body,” said Chiyangwa.

Chiyangwa said the success by the club shows there is a lot of talent in the country. At the tournament, Friendly Academy players Takudzwa Muskwe and Harley Matarutse finished as joint top-goal scorers after scoring five goals each.