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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
TWO of Zimbabwe’s most promising young footballers Calum English-Brown and Martin Zulu are set to break into the tough world of German football, with the news that they have signed for two of that country’s lower division teams.

According to reports from Germany, 18-year-old English-Brown, who broke the colour code in the national teams when he became the first local white player to play for the Young Warriors in more than two decades when he featured for Zimbabwe at the COSAFA Under-17 tournament in Mauritius in 2017, is set for a stint with FC Eintracht Norderstedt 03.

FC Eintracht Norderstedt 03 is a German football club based in Norderstedt, Schleswig-Holstein, currently playing in the Regionalliga Nord. They are reported to be on the verge of signing English-Brown for their Under-19 side. According to an impeccable source close to this latest development, English-Brown, a former St John’s College midfielder, who was once attached to local Premiership side Harare City, is currently nursing an undisclosed injury, but did train twice with FC Eintracht Norderstedt 03 Under-19 side and he made the grade.

“Calum is currently going for some treatment at the German club and should be starting to play again for their Under-19 side in the next few weeks. But he will definitely be signing for them before the start of the new season in August,” the same source told The Herald from Germany yesterday.

And in a related development, another young Zimbabwean player Zulu has just signed for another German lower division side FC Bayern Alzenau, who are based in Alzenau, Bavaria.

Zulu is reported to have signed a long-term contract with FC Bayern Alzenau’s reserve side on Wednesday.

“The club saw his potential and they could use him for the first team once he starts playing regularly for national teams in Zimbabwe”, according to the same source in Germany.

A 19-year-old midfielder, Zulu can also play either as a central, attacking link man or on the wings in attacking roles or defensive.

By moving to Germany, Zulu and English-Brown have joined two other young Zimbabwean players — Seth Patrick and Sharma Bako — who are already plying their trade in that country.

Patrick and Bako are on the books of VfB Lubeck’s Under-19 side and they are both members of coach Tonderai Ndiraya’s Zimbabwe Under-23 team that is vying for a place at the Africa Cup of Nations Under-23 finals to be staged in Egypt in November.

The Zimbabwe Under-23 side are set to meet neighbours South Africa in September in the final qualifying round of the 2019 AFCON Under-23 finals that will also serve as a qualifying tournament for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Midfielder Patrick has already featured for the Young Warriors in their opening AFCON Under-23 qualifier against Mozambique earlier this year and helped them to a 2-0 aggregate victory.