A nation's football is only ever as good as the coaches who develop its players. That is the philosophy driving ZIFA president Nqobile Magwizi, who this week announced that Zimbabwe has secured certification to offer CAF A coaching courses, the highest coaching qualification available on the African continent, marking a significant step forward in the country's football development infrastructure.
Magwizi said the development, which comes after ZIFA also conducted a CAF B training programme last week, is part of a broader strategy being implemented alongside the technical director to ensure that coaches operating across all leagues in Zimbabwe are equipped with the latest methodologies in football development.
"One of the things that we have been working on with the technical director has been to equip our coaches right across all the leagues to make sure that they are adequately equipped and they have the latest methodologies required to ensure that the teams perform better and the players perform better," Magwizi said.
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"We had a CAF B training last week and we also got the certification to do CAF A, which is a huge, huge milestone and we should be offering CAF A courses."
The ZIFA president was clear that the coaching education drive is not a one-off exercise but an ongoing programme designed to continuously improve standards throughout the football pyramid. "We need more and more coaches, more refresher courses so that we up our standards, that's what is very important," he said.
Magwizi added that the long-term benefit of investing in coaching education would be felt most significantly at national team level, where better-developed players would eventually provide selectors with a deeper and higher-quality pool of talent to draw from.