Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. For the past couple of weeks, Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) president Nqobile Magwizi and Warriors coach Michael Nees have been in the United Kingdom on a diaspora drive which the association has dubbed Roots & Dreams Engagement.
This initiative, which saw meetings being held in London and Birmingham, sought to strengthen ties between the football association and the Zimbabwean diaspora, especially footballers.
Magwizi and Nees took the opportunity to share the vision of the association and outline Zifa’s strategic objectives aimed at building a modern, inclusive and results-driven football ecosystem.
Zimbabwe has benefited from footballers in the diaspora who opted to represent their country of origin, such as Andy Rinomhota, Jordan Zemura, Tawanda Maswanhise, Tawanda Chirewa, Tendayi Darikwa and Macauley Bonne, among many others.
But this is tantamount to reaping from where we did now sow.
An increase in such players in the team comes at the expense of locally-based players who are part of the Warriors.
Maybe shortly we may end up with a team made up of players from diaspora while local standards plummet.
A lot of African countries, such as Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Nigeria, whose national teams used to dominate African football, took that route, but their local clubs have fallen into oblivion in terms of the game on the continent.
While the door has always been open for players born in the diaspora, the Roots & Dreams project appears to prefer such players to local talent.
If not carefully implemented, it could send the message that local talent is not good enough to take our national teams to the Promised Land.
Perhaps it was important for Magwizi and his team, who came into office more than three months ago, to sell the association’s vision, dreams, objectives to the local football ecosystem across the country before rushing to lure diaspora talent.
One of the biggest challenges for Zimbabwe over the years has been failure to scout for talent from all corners of the country. A lot of work needs to be done to tap into the vast talent we have in the country and allow those born in the diaspora to decide on their own to be part of Zimbabwe’s football.
Zimbabwe has already shown that it has the talent that can be nurtured to compete at the highest level.
Warriors’ captain Marvellous Nakamba has risen from Hwange to play in the UEFA Champions League as well as the English Premier League, as did his vice-captain Marshall Munetsi, whose journey began in Mabvuku and is now playing for English top-flight league side Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Tino Kadewere is playing in the French top league after starting in Highfield, while Bill Antonio is strutting his stuff in the Belgian League, having honed his skills at Prince Edward Academy.
Munashe Garan’anga was competing in the UEFA Conference League and even played against English giants Chelsea with his Danish side FC Copenhagen.
Zimbabwe needs to commit to creating more such heroes by promoting local talent and augmenting it with exceptional diaspora players, not everyone.
This diaspora engagement exposes Zifa’s desire to abdicate its responsibility to create a conducive environment through infrastructural development and resource mobilisation for local talent to flourish.
We certainly need the services of diaspora players who have a burning desire to represent the country, not those who are undecided.
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