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Tadious Manyepo

Sports Reporter

ORGANISERS of the inaugural Futsal International tournament to be staged in Hamburg, Germany, in May have revealed they will invite Zimbabwean teams in a development which could help propel the game in this country.

The five-a-side game is principally played but practically non-existent in this country although it used to form the basis of technical development amongst players who went on to make it big in 11-a-side football.

In fact, Futsal is widely used as a foundational tool for technical and tactical development in such countries like Brazil and Spain which have become models of fluent football.

In England, the game is gaining traction with a well-developed league system.

And Zimbabwe-born Africa’s only coach in the English National Futsal League, Phillip Zulu, has successfully moved a motion to the Futsal International tournament organisers, to which he is a key member, to invite at least three teams from this country to participate in Germany.

A holder of a Futsal C licence and an A level coaching certificate holder, Zulu has built his reputation developing grassroots talent in Leeds, England.

Zulu said the participating teams for the inaugural Futsal Cup will be drawn from Spain, Portugal and France, among other countries.

“We are finalising preparations for our first ever Futsal international tournament to be held in Hamburg, Germany,” Zulu said.

“Teams will come from Spain, Portugal and France, among other countries, and I have successfully lobbied to have Zimbabwean teams as well. The tournament will be held in May.

“This is a new step towards building a philosophy for our own grassroots programmes in the country so that they get exposure and good competition from teams playing in big leagues in the world. This tournament will become an annual event and Zimbabwean teams stand to benefit a lot from it.”

Without established clubs to extend the invitation to, Zulu has taken it upon himself to forge partnerships with yet-to-be-named schools where he will introduce the game and come up with teams which could be good enough to take on the world.

He said those clubs which used to play the game in the past will also be considered.

At the moment, Zulu said he was still engaging the authorities about the development and should this see the light of the day, he will be bringing instructors here to train both coaches and players, given the importance of this game to football in general.