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Sports Reporter
AFTER 30 years in which it helped change the face of football around the world, the Copa Coca-Cola tournament steps into its fourth decade next week when this year’s edition of the country’s premier schools’ soccer tournament bursts into life at Pamushana High.

The launch of this year’s edition has been set for next Wednesday.

Pamushana are the defending boys’ champions after they defeated Guinea Fowl to win the special 30th edition of the tournament at Mandava in Zvishavane last year.

It was their ninth record-equalling tournament success story.

Chidyamakono, from Masvingo, hold the record of five wins since girls category started eight years ago while Nyamauru are the defending girls’ champions.

The Copa Coca-Cola is a revolutionary schools’ football tournament introduced in this country, which is boosting the development of the game around the globe, and last year celebrated the 30th edition of the tourney.

The tournament provided a platform for players like the legendary Peter Ndlovu to announce their arrival on the big stage.

It’s a testimony to the sponsors’ bold commitment to help in identifying and development of talented teenage footballers in this country in particular, and around the world, in general, that the Copa Coca-Cola tournament is now the longest-running sponsored football tournament in Zimbabwe.

And, crucially for this country, it has now turned into a global show, with the tournament — which has its roots firmly here — now held in more than 60 countries across five different continents, in a major seal of approval for the way local organisers have handled this project.

Five years ago, a record number of more than 80 000 schools from across the world took part in the Copa Coca-Cola tournament, with more than 1,3 million teenage footballers showcasing their budding talents in the tournament.

And a global research conducted by the sponsors, Coca-Cola, praised Zimbabwe for her pioneering role in introducing the tournament in 1989, when a 16-year-old Peter Ndlovu was still a student at Mzilikazi High School in Bulawayo, before his explosion into becoming the greatest Warrior of all-time.

“In 1989, Coca-Cola in Zimbabwe created a competition to empower footballing passion and support the development of budding grassroots talent,” their survey said.

“The event was an unrivalled success and soon spread throughout the country before, almost a decade later, moving across the Atlantic to Mexico in 1998, where it became Copa Coca-Cola (inspired by the Spanish word for Cup).

“The tournament was implemented in partnership with governments and football federations to make the competition one of the leading events in the country’s sporting calendar.

“Since the official introduction of the programme, Copa Coca-Cola has expanded to more than 60 countries across five different continents.

“More than 80 000 schools took part (in 2014), encouraging over 1,3 million young players to follow an active, healthy lifestyle and embody values such as team spirit, friendship and respect.

“Copa Coca-Cola continues to expand, with more countries and teens participating in the tournament.’’

Coca-Cola says the tournament continues to grow around the world and the company expects millions of more teenage schoolboys and girls around the world to play in the schools’ festival before they go on to make a name for themselves as professionals.

Former Zimbabwe international midfielder Kennedy Nagoli, one of the several football players who featured in the Copa Coca-Cola tournament during their school days, said the tourney was key to the development of the game.