At least 1 000 schools from across the country are set to benefit from the FIFA Football for Schools programme which is set to be launched today in Harare.
The FIFA Football for Schools (F4S) programme will be launched at Prince Edward High School by the programmes manager Antonio Buenano Sanchez.
Prior to the launch, Sanchez has been holding a capacity building workshop for former players, school teachers and community coaches over the past two days..
According to the world football motherboard website, the F4S is a mass participation programme that aims to contribute to education, development and empowerment of boys and girls across the globe reaching all 211 FIFA Member Associations.
It is run by FIFA, in collaboration with UNESCO, with the aim of contributing to the education, development and empowerment of around 700 million children.
Zimbabwe FIFA Forward manager Kudzai Chitima, told Zimpapers Sports, that all was set for the launch of the programme where a total of 1 000 schools from across the country are set to benefit.
"We are excited to be launching the FIFA Football for Schools programme in the country through the programmes manager, Sanchez.
"It is a programme which targets the 4-14 age group and a total of 1 000 schools from across the country will benefit from the program," said Chitima.
The Zimbabwe FIFA Forward manager said that the project is part for the development of the sport while they target to attract interest of budding footballers at a tender age while it also plays a part in the fostering of life skills for the young.
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"The programme targets children who are between the ages of 4-14, and the aim of this programme is not about competition, but to garner football interest in schools from a tender age. Apart from trying to attract interest in the young kids, the programme is also set to be used to foster life skills, decision making, interpersonal skills, communication, team and respect," said Chitima.
With 1000 schools set to benefit from the programme, Chitima revealed that the trainer course for the programme has been held for more than 43 coaches from all of the country's provinces.
"We have held a train the trainer course which had representatives from all of the country's 10 provinces and we are confident that with the knowledge being passed, the future of Zimbabwe football will be secured through such a project."
Chitima was full of praise for the ZIFA Normalisation Committee for ensuring the revival of grassroots football which he believes will bear fruit in the near future.
"If you look at the strategy that the NC has, they want to introduce and resuscitate grassroots football.
"We had the CAF schools programme in November, which dealt with the U-15s and now the F4S which deals with the 4-14-year olds so this is really about trying to work with grassroots which is the base for football development. If the base is stronger the house will be stronger," said Chitima.
