THE Zimbabwe Women Football (ZWF) executive will meet next week to draw up a national calendar of events for this year, with particular focus on the Mighty Warriors’ preparations for both the 2015 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) All-Africa Games and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
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ZWF board member competitions Cecilia Gambe said the purpose of the meeting is to map the way forward for women football which appears to be in a quagmire since Miriam Sibanda was voted into office as women football boss last March.
Gambe said top of the agenda would the Mighty Warriors’ preparations for the two assignments ahead.
With the All-Africa Games qualifiers beginning in a month’s time for the Mighty Warriors, there is nothing on the ground for women football team to suggest that there is such an important qualifier coming up.
The team who have been inactive since June last year, had hoped to use an invitational tournament in Botswana at the end of this month to prepare for the DRC Games qualifiers.
But those plans were thrown into turmoil after the hosts cancelled the event after some other countries who had been invited failed to confirm.
To qualify for the All-Africa Games finals, the Mighty Warriors who were given a bye in the first round, will play Ghana in the second and final qualifying round with the winner of the two legged encounter going through.
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“We are meeting on Tuesday next week and the main purpose of the meeting is to look at ways we can get resources for the national team,” said Gambe.
“We have a very important game coming up shortly. It’s a tough match against Ghana and we have to prepare adequately. We have to get the resources so that we can get the girls in camp as soon as possible. We are intending to set up a football trust for the Mighty Warriors who would fundraise resources for the team.
“We had hoped to use the Botswana tournament to prepare but it was cancelled unfortunately so we have to look at other options. If resources permit, we are planning to have a friendly match with either Tanzania or Botswana before we play Ghana. We also need resources to have the technical team move around the country to scout for players for the national team. The meeting is also for us to adopt our action plan and draw up and adopt a national calendar of events for this year” added Gambe.
For the Olympic Games, the Rosemary Mugadza coached side will again start their in the second round after receiving a first round bye.
They will begin their journey with a relatively easy fixture against neighbours Zambia and if the Mighty Warriors progresses to the next stage, they will face the winner between Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia.
Zimbabwe faced Tunisia in 2011 in a friendly match played in Egypt, winning the match 1-0 courtesy of a goal by Tsitsi Mairosi. The Mighty Warriors has never faced Ivory Coast before.
The task become even more daunting for the Mighty Warriors if they progress past this stage, as they will face the winners of the matches involving Egypt/Ghana and winner of Guinea Bissau/Liberia versus Cameroon in the fourth and final qualifying round.
The winner of the final qualifying round will join the other winner from the other qualifying group as Africa’s two representatives at the 2016 Olympic Games to be held in Rio.
The qualifiers will begin on the weekend of April 24-26, but Zimbabwe will only start their campaign on the weekend of 22-24 May.
