Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe schools team is set to get the ball rolling today in the CAF African Schools Football Championship 2023 when they face Malawi in a three-day football festival that brings 10 Southern African nations to Gateway Primary School in Harare.
The local organisers confirmed all the participating teams had arrived in Zimbabwe by yesterday for the zonal tournament, which is being used as a COSAFA qualifier for the continental finals next year.
The participating teams are Angola, Botswana, Madagascar, Zambia, Eswatini, Malawi, South Africa, Namibia, Seychelles, Angola and Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabweans will be featuring in the event for the first time after missing the inaugural edition held in Malawi last year due to a FIFA suspension.
The hosts take on Malawi while Botswana clash with Eswatini in the Group A openers in the boys’ competition which starts at 9am.
The same nations will clash in the girls’ tournament, with the official opening of the event to be conducted soon afterwards at 11am.
Zimbabwe’s FIFA Forward Manager, Kudzai Chitima, who is also heading the ZIFA Normalisation Committee’s development activities, yesterday told Zimpapers Sports that the event is set to leave a lasting legacy.
“We are very happy to be hosting this second edition of the CAF African Schools Football Championship 2023 here in Zimbabwe. This is a very good initiative by CAF.”
“We are also happy that this tournament will leave a legacy for Zimbabwe in terms of the development pillars by capacitating all the football stakeholders involved,” said Chitima.
The boys’ competition will be played on full size pitches with 11-a-side, while the girls’ tournament is played on half-sized pitches and is eight-a-side. In both competitions it will be 20 minutes per half, with a 10-minute halftime break.
The Zimbabwe Under-15 boys will be led by former Dynamos youth coach Taruvinga and Irene Mwanza is the head coach of the girls’ team.
Taruvinga, a teacher at Prince Edward High School, is a seasoned coach with extensive experience at the youth level.
Mwanza, is also a teacher, at Mosia Tunya High School in Victoria Falls. She possesses a deep understanding of the game and a passion for nurturing young talent.
Mwanza is looking to make an impact with her team.