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Sports Reporter
TAFADZWA Benza has been hailed for the way he has turned Herentals into a football kingdom.
He has spent the past eight years at the helm of the biggest footballing institution in this country judging by the number of professional teams under their stable.
Being the chief operating officer of Herentals Group of Schools and Colleges, Benza has spearheaded the formation of 14 teams, including Herentals in the Premiership, and the Queens, who have dominated the Women Premier Soccer League landscape for the past three seasons.
Now, he has been rewarded with a post on the new ZIFA board.
And he wants to see the multiplication of professional teams to ensure that everyone gets the chance to play the game and possibly contribute at national team level.
Benza is spearheading Herentals College’s quest to join Naph and Nash and, at the same time, encouraging all other private colleges to do likewise for the purposes of improving the game.
At Herentals College, football is played all-year-round and with many stakeholders advocating for the same across the country, Benza has taken it upon himself to bid for that as well, now that he is a member of the apex football board in the country.
“We have always let every sport including football to go on throughout the year rather than limiting them to single terms.
“Those good at football and other sports can have sufficient time to develop their potential and at the end of the day, we will surely have really complete athletes.
“This is why it’s important for us to join the two esteemed organisations, Naph and Nash that is. There are so many pros of working with them.
“In fact, we have always wanted to be part of this big family where we can contribute in the formulation of developmental policies especially to do with the growth of football in this country. “We have done all the groundwork and we are good to go.
“We will be joining Naph and Nash as soon as possible. We believe by becoming part of the big community, we will also be able to learn so much and we will be able to contribute positively as well concerning the development of the game in this country.”
Benza said developing football should be a deliberate plan put on the ground by the stakeholders, with Naph and Nash playing key roles.
“Football starts from the foot going up. The game is never an accidental phenomenon. It is a deliberate process put on the ground by the stakeholders.
“That is why we are always saying, we have a lot of talent going down the drain every year because we don’t really do enough to ensure we harness the potential.
“It all starts from the grassroots where we should make huge efforts to catch them young. And it is ideally Naph and Nash who have the greatest means and opportunity to do so if you look at it.
“It is always important to deal with these two because they form the foundational basis at which we can build a competitive nation in football just like in all other sectors.”