We might have thought that for a country with more football academies than a 'fifth' of its own population, Zimbabwe would be full of exceptional football talent.
Sadly, that is not the case as the country's own top teams have turned to foreign talent as Zimbabwe's own football talent reservoir is dry.
This is surprising considering the fact that in every suburb in every city or town, there is an 'academy' which is supposed to be rolling out talent to mainstream football.
In Harare only — for example — there are 'academies' in Warren Park, Kuwadzana, Dzivaresekwa, Mbare, Glen View, Glen Norah, Hatcliffe, Highfields, Mufakose, Westlea, Whitecliffe, and not mentioning the popular ones we already know.
Yet Dynamos — for example—- have gone for three Ghanaians, Frank Agmeyang, Mohammad Isaka, and Felix Hammond as well as Zambian goalkeeper, Sitale Nyambe, better known as King Kong.
Some might argue that Dynamos have lost their power of player attraction locally and do not have money to entice the players to join them ?
What then of Caps United who have turned to Zambia for fresh player inspiration and Scottland who have Namibians and a Malawian on their books ?
The Green Machine and Mabvirabvira are rated among the highest paying teams in the country, meaning part of their money is finding its way to foreign lands.
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Looking across elsewhere in the Premiership, there are players from Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia — some of whom not good enough for Division One football in their own home countries.
Surely, when the country's top football teams turn to foreign talent for success, then something is wrong somewhere.
Will we ever be able to build a strong team for the Chan when our players are not good enough for our local clubs ?
Why are we not producing players good enough for domestic consumption when we have academies everywhere ?
Who registers these academies and what are the requirements ?
Are they real academies or they are just gatherings of young footballers to kick the ball around with a former footballer as a coach.
Is the way we are doing it the right one or we are getting it wrong somewhere ?
Zifa should have a relook at this whole academy system and ensure that guidelines regarding the operation of an academy are followed as everyday every Jack and Jill is waking up to claim he has set up an academy.
We also need to revive our junior football by reintroducing Under 15, Under 17, and Under 20 league football as used to happen during the days of the Zimbabwe Junior Football Association.
We jave provincial representatives in the Zifa Assembly and their task should be to see to it that junior league football returns in their areas and the sooner they do that, the better.
Surely, we miss the days when our junior football was heavily supported by companies like Bonar, Manica Freight, and National Foods with teams competing at regional level from where provincial teams were selected for inter-provincial competitions.
From the inter-provincial competitions, national teams were selected and not today when the Zimbabwe Under 17 team is picked on the basis of who-knows-who and the results have been there for everyone to see.
We need to bring back those days when Zimbabwe could export as many as seven players in one season to the South African Premiership
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