Inside ZIFA

Anyone who arrived in Vancouver expecting only speeches, procedural votes and diplomatic handshakes soon discovered that football had other plans. Before the formal business began, there was a match – pure, unfiltered, slightly chaotic, and exactly the kind of icebreaker only football can provide. For CAF, the stage belonged to the Motsepe Select XI, captained […]

In towns and townships across Zimbabwe, the names of former footballers still live on. Mention them in conversation and the memories come flooding back, the goals, the saves, the tackles, the flair, the afternoons when a single player could lift the mood of an entire community. That kind of admiration does not fade easily. But […]

A final score can settle a match, but it does not always capture the lessons within it. That is why the past week in Harare carried such significance for Zimbabwean football. By hosting the Continental Finals of the CAF African Schools Football Championship, Zimbabwe welcomed the best Under-15 boys’ and girls’ teams on the continent […]

There are moments in a nation’s sporting journey that redefine belief. For Zimbabwe, women’s football has provided several of them. When the game surged into the national spotlight in the early 2000s, it did more than introduce a new competition category – it ignited conviction. That conviction reached its peak when the Mighty Warriors qualified […]

Inside ZIFA-Nqobile Magwizi SOME moments in a football nation’s story pass without spectacle, yet they quietly set the direction of everything that follows. The launch of the BancABC Roots Impact Programme is one of those moments. It arrives without floodlights or fanfare, but its true impact will be felt long after the applause fades and […]

Inside ZIFA – Nqobile Magwizi ZIMBABWEAN football has spent decades suspended in a frustrating state of near arrival. Always on the brink, always on the verge, always promising, but never quite crossing the line into true sustainability, professionalism and global respect. We have become accustomed to the language of almost: almost competitive, almost structured, almost […]

Our Africa Cup of Nations journey concluded sooner than we had hoped. The matches we played exposed us to demanding lessons — uncomfortable, unfiltered truths that we must confront with honesty and resolve if Zimbabwe is to progress as a footballing nation. In previous editions of Inside ZIFA, we have analysed the performances, wrestled with […]

Q: Zimbabwe exited the Africa Cup of Nations with a single point from three matches. What does this outcome mean for local football? A: The immediate emotion is, of course, disappointment and pain. As a football-loving nation, we always want to compete strongly and progress further at major tournaments. That feeling is real and it is […]

The training pitch hums with energy. Young voices rise and fall, speaking in differentlanguages and dialects, each player determined to make themselves heard, to ensure theirinstructions are understood. At first, the cacophony is charmingly chaotic – a reflection ofZimbabwe itself: diverse, vibrant, and full of potential. But as the session unfolds, itbecomes strikingly clear: football […]