Story by Mthokozisi Dube
Football coaches have implored football stakeholders to craft a database for junior development, which will help in tracking budding footballers.
The second edition of the Johannes Ngodzo football tournament roared into life in Bulawayo this Saturday, with the tournament having been split based on various age groups.
The tournament unearthed budding football talent which caught the eye of football coaches who were quick to point to the need of having a database to monitor the development of budding footballers.
Football coach, Mandla Lulu Mpofu said, “The southern region is better known to be a hub for junior football talent as it has produced great names for big team as well as the national team. But the question is what happens to these young stars. We need a data base which will help us track the development of these players because there is good talent from what we have seen in this tournament.”
Former Warriors midfielder, Johannes Ngodzo has also implored other former footballers to cast the net wider by staging similar tournaments in their respective communities.
“If we can have former footballers staging these tournament sin their respective areas, that can take us somewhere in growing the game,” he said.
Now in its second edition, the annual Johannes Ngodzo football tournament has been a way of educating the youths on the dangers of drug and substance abuse and one of the founder members, Irvin Khumalo believes plans to set up a development side are now at an advanced stage.
“We formed the foundation in 2023 and we have had one tournament meaning this is the second edition. We realised that a lot of our young stars were involved in drug and substance abuse hence we came up with this initiative. Our aim is to see to it that we have a development side mainly for Under 19 competing in the lower leagues acting as a feeder to big teams. We have had talks on that with our partner in the US, UK and they have committed resources for the initiative,” Khumalo noted.
The next edition of the tournament will also see the introduction of the girls’ tournament.
Football administrator Sibekiwe Ndlovu said, “We commend what the foundation has done in exposing junior talent we have had talks and proposed that they also factor in the girl child in the upcoming edition.”
The first edition was dominated by Mzilikazi Primary School and this year’s tournament will run up to this Monday, having a different format with matches being played in different age groups.
