New direction for Zim football . . . as grassroots training programme launched

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 the headlines move on.

When the current Executive Committee assumed office at the Zimbabwe Football Association, we made a clear and deliberate pledge — the rebuilding of Zimbabwean football would start at the base of the pyramid and move upwards.

We committed to ending a culture of shortcuts, fragmentation and seasonal development and to replacing it with systems that are planned, structured and sustained.

Roots Impact is the clearest demonstration yet of that promise being honoured.

The true measure of a football nation is not found only in packed stadiums or high-profile international fixtures. Those moments are outcomes, not starting points.

A nation’s football health is revealed on school grounds, community fields and modest training pitches. That is where habits are formed, talent is first identified and belief takes root.

That is where lasting football nations are built.

Football success is never accidental. It is the visible outcome of invisible systems working consistently over time.

Talent may emerge anywhere, but only systems convert talent into performance and performance into sustained success.

AFCON 2025 reminded us of a simple truth: Nations do not rise on isolated moments of brilliance. They rise through structured methods. When pathways are clear, competitions organised, education aligned and governance predictable, results eventually follow.

Systems win because they are repeatable and in football repeatability is the difference between a promising generation and a strong nation.

The BancABC Roots Impact Programme is, therefore, not a one-off tournament or a symbolic gesture.

It is a year-round national grassroots platform designed to organise football at its most important level.

With BancABC committing US$200 000, this initiative moves decisively from intention to execution, and from goodwill to genuine investment.

For the first time, Zimbabwe now has a nationally standardised junior league structure supported by governance frameworks, safeguarding systems and clear progression routes.

Just as important are the programme’s legacy components, including safeguarding, anti-doping awareness, refereeing development and CAF D coaching courses for teachers.

These elements raise the quality and safety of development while equipping educators with the skills to instil integrity, fair play and professionalism from the earliest stages.

By embedding safeguarding and anti-doping frameworks, Roots Impact ensures that development happens in environments that are safe, ethical and child centred, strengthening parental trust and the moral fabric of the game.

A child’s talent can now be identified at school level and followed deliberately through community, district, provincial and national pathways.

This is how serious football nations operate. Development by design, not by chance.

That distinction matters. Success at elite level, with the Warriors and the Mighty Warriors, cannot be built on hope alone.

Consistent qualification for major tournaments is impossible if the talent pipeline is uncertain.

Meaningful World Cup qualification challenges cannot emerge from informal, fragmented or invisible development structures.

Strong national teams are not assembled at the last moment. They are grown patiently over time.

Roots Impact opens pathways for both urban and rural players, ensuring that opportunity is not determined by geography or background.

It introduces continuity where inconsistency once prevailed, structure where fragmentation existed and visibility where exclusion was common. In doing so, it begins to repair the most critical layer of the football ecosystem.

Crucially, the refereeing and coaching legacy programmes ensure that growth happens on all sides of the pitch.

The aim is not only better players, but better match officials, better grassroots coaches and stronger local football leadership.

Equally significant is the programme’s alignment with ZIFA’s memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

Schools are where participation lives.

Through this partnership, talent identification, early coaching and structured competition are integrated into the education system.

Schools become intentional talent incubation centres, supported by ZIFA through technical guidance, training and capacity building.

By offering CAF D coaching courses for teachers, the programme professionalises school football, turning educators into certified football developers who nurture talent daily rather than occasionally.

This is not a choice between education and football. It is an acknowledgement that the two are stronger together.

Well-structured football within an organised education framework accelerates development while preserving dignity.

The legacy programmes also build life skills, discipline, health awareness and leadership, producing not just footballers, but better citizens.

BancABC’s role in this journey deserves special recognition.

Their support reflects leadership and confidence in governance, systems and a new direction for Zimbabwean football.

It enables the professionalisation of youth development, transparent and auditable operations and the trust of parents, schools and communities. Investment follows credibility and credibility is earned through delivery. Their confidence is both affirming and motivating.

Roots Impact also reinforces a fundamental truth. Grassroots football is not a side project. It is the foundation.

That is why it must be governed properly, funded consistently and measured honestly.

When football truly belongs to communities again, talent stops leaking before it has a chance to grow.

By embedding safeguarding, anti-doping, refereeing and coaching into the programme, Roots Impact ensures communities do not merely consume football, but actively produce and protect it.

The long-term ambition remains clear: Zimbabwe must become a realistic and consistent challenger for World Cup qualification.

Not through slogans or miracle runs, but through preparation and systems. The journey to the World Cup does not begin with qualifiers. It begins with children, schools, communities and partners who believe football can be a force for national renewal.

What we are witnessing with Roots Impact is not the announcement of an idea, but the fulfilment of a pledge.

A move from promise to platform. From intention to action.

The vision has been launched. The responsibility to protect this system, to fund it, to govern it properly and to give it the discipline and time to work, now belongs to all of us.

If we do that, the rewards will come. Not only in results, but in pride, opportunity and a game that truly grows from the ground up. Let us build the roots, and the nation will rise.

Nqobile Magwizi is the president of the Zimbabwe Football Association.

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