BancABC Roots Impact Tournament Roars into Life in Harare

Harare has become the centre of Zimbabwe’s junior football this week as the BancABC Roots Impact Programme Tournament roars into life, bringing together some of the country’s most promising young players for a festival of football, development and opportunity.

All 10 provinces are represented in the tournament, with boys and girls competing at Under-14 and Under-16 level at Prince Edward School and Allan Wilson School from 23 to 30 August.

For the young players involved, the week represents much more than the pursuit of results. It is an opportunity to compete against their peers from across Zimbabwe, gain valuable match experience and, importantly, put themselves in the national development spotlight.

The tournament is the culmination of provincial competition under the BancABC Roots Impact Programme, which has provided regular playing opportunities for young footballers around the country. Bringing the provinces together in Harare now provides another important layer to that development process.

The emphasis remains firmly on development.

Players are being assessed not simply on who wins or scores the most goals, but on their technical ability, decision-making, athletic potential and capacity to develop. The tournament therefore provides ZIFA’s technical structures with a valuable scouting platform across four categories — U14 boys, U14 girls, U16 boys and U16 girls.

That pathway has taken on even greater significance following the recent appointment of national team coaches across Zimbabwe’s age-group structures.

The appointments form part of ZIFA’s drive to create greater continuity between grassroots football, junior national teams and the senior national sides. Rather than age-group teams being assembled only when competitions approach, the objective is to establish an ongoing system of talent identification, monitoring and development.

Programmes such as BancABC Roots Impact are central to making that system work.

With players drawn from all 10 provinces, the tournament broadens the scouting net and gives talented youngsters an opportunity to be seen regardless of where they come from. It also gives national team technical staff a competitive environment in which to assess players over several matches rather than relying on isolated trials.

The bigger picture is Dream2030, ZIFA’s long-term vision built around the ambition of taking Zimbabwe to the 2030 FIFA World Cup while developing stronger foundations for sustained success beyond a single qualification campaign.

For that dream to become reality, investment cannot begin with the senior Warriors. It has to start much earlier.

The young footballers competing in Harare today represent the age groups from which Zimbabwe’s future junior and senior internationals will emerge. Providing them with regular competition, qualified coaching, structured scouting and visible pathways is therefore an investment in what the national teams could become in the years ahead.

The tournament also underlines the importance of partnership in rebuilding Zimbabwean football. Through BancABC’s support, the Roots Impact Programme has been able to create a national platform that combines football development with broader opportunities for young people.

From 23 to 30 August, Prince Edward and Allan Wilson will provide the stage as provincial rivalries come alive and hundreds of young players chase their moment.

There will be goals, victories and disappointments along the way, but the real prize stretches far beyond this week.

Ten provinces. Four categories. Boys and girls from across Zimbabwe sharing one stage — and a pathway that could lead from provincial football to the national jersey.

The future of Zimbabwean football is not waiting somewhere in the distance. This week in Harare, it is already on the pitch.

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