The ManicaPost
Ray Bande Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA have suspended all Confederation of African Football coaching courses to pave way for a process to align the domestic syllabus with internationally acceptable standards as an association.
This is meant to implement some of the key resolutions made at the international symposium on African Football held in the Moroccan city of Skhirate in July.
Local coaches wishing to undertake CAF A, B and C coaching courses will have to wait a little longer before they can start their sessions after the suspension of the courses by the country’s football mother body.
The move to suspend the courses has derailed plans for a number of local coaches like former Warriors’ player, Shepherd Muradzikwa, a CAF C holder, who intended to undergo both CAF B and CAF A coaching courses this year.
Although ZIFA technical director Wilson Mutekede could not be reached for comment as his mobile phone went unanswered as he was said to be attending lectures in Bulawayo, the association’s publicist, Xolisani Gwesela, confirmed that they will wait until the alignment process is completed for them to facilitate CAF A, B and C coaching courses.
“Yes, we have suspended local coaching courses in a move that is aimed at implementing some of the key resolutions made at the continental football governing body symposium held in Morocco in July.
“We want our CAF coaching courses to be in line with internationally accepted standards, hence the move to suspend the courses until the process of alignment has been finalised.
“We are expecting a richer curriculum after the finalisation of the alignment process,” said Gwesela.
Early this year, CAF gave the green light on CAF coaching courses proposed by ZIFA for 2017. A total of nine CAF badges coaching courses were approved to go ahead beginning in April up to just before the festive season.
The approved courses were set to be held in different venues across the country While some have already been conducted, a fitness course for coaches was scheduled to be held between September 18 and 22.
Initially, at the beginning of this year, ZIFA placed the minimum coaching qualifications that any Premier League coach need to hold in order to be eligible to be on the bench during the 2017 soccer season as part of a raft of measures meant to improve coaching standards even at lower levels of the game in the country.
Although ZIFA set CAF A as the minimum coaching qualification that any coach aspiring to sit as head coach on the technical bench of a Premiership team should have, other countries still maintain CAF B as the only prerequisite.
For example, ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, the minimum requirement for a coach and his assistant in the Uganda Premier League was CAF B Coaching Course. CAF B is the second highest level coaching courses as per CAF rankings and is undertaken for two weeks under a certified CAF and FIFA instructor.
What is special about this is that each day out of the two weeks, participants study for eight hours each day. After successful completion, one is required to practise for at least a year before undertaking CAF A.
The CAF A Coaching Course is the highest level of coaching licence attainable on the continent. It is the longest in terms of study and it is conducted over a month.
However, it is divided in two weeks known as Modules One (First Week) and Modules Two (Second Week).
In accordance with CAF, only “A” Licence holders are required to handle proceedings in CAF competitions – CAF Confederations Cup and CAF Champions League.
