By Shepherd Masunda, Own Correspondent
Zimbabwe Women Premier league debutants, Maningi Youth Soccer Academy are aiming for a top five in their maiden season in the top flight league.
In an interview, Maningi Youth Soccer Academy Director Gladman Dimbiri said the team is fully-geared for the new season and is not in the league to make up numbers.
“Morale is high and we expect to finish on top five position this season and nothing else,” said Dimbiri.
“Our goal is to finish inside the top five position and to also open High Performance Centre where girls will be training twice a day for four days a week with a controlled their social environment and diet,” added Dimbiri.
MYSA will have a a young 30 member women squad whose average age is just 19 years. The squad consist of with 20 senior players and 10 juniors, all under the age of 23.
Last season the club had about six to eight outstanding players who will try moving their fortunes abroad. Three players are leaving for United States of America on scholarship; two are going to South Africa whilst the last pair for Europe.
MYSA since its inception has managed to produce many players with many of them plying their trade in Europe and the United States of America. In 2023 Tanyaradzwa Chihoro, a Maningi Youth Soccer Academy product, proved that she is a force to reckon when she played for Zimbabwe senior women’s team highlighting the impact the academy is having.
The girls’ soccer academy is also planning to establish a training centre in Bvukururu, Zaka, in Masvingo province in search of the best talent in women’s football from a remote area in as far as women soccer development is concerned. The training centre is to feed into the senior team participating in the women’s league.
Formerly known as Maningi Queens, the club was formed in 2014 and then joined the Northern region Women Football league that same year It has been participating continuously until its promotion to the topflight Zimbabwe Women Premier Soccer League in 2023 Season.