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Johannes Tshisa Ngodzo

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Footballers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Fuz) preparations for the out-of-contract players’ regional competition set for South Africa next month began on a low note in Harare yesterday.

Former Warriors’ midfielder and Bantu Rovers coach Johannes Ngodzo held a training session attended by 15 players at Motor Action Sports Club.

Ngodzo is assisting former national team coach Callisto Pasuwa at the Fuz training programme that is preparing a team for a competition in Johannesburg from July 13-15.

Desmond Maringwa, the Fuz president, is hoping the number of non-contracted players will increase as the week progresses.

“We started training today and had 15 participants, which is a good number. What we found encouraging is that some of the players came from as far as Hwange and Chinhoyi. Ngodzo held the training session in the absence of Pasuwa, who had pressing family commitments, but will be available tomorrow to train the guys,” said Maringwa.

Footballers’ unions from Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo and hosts South Africa have confirmed participation in the second edition of the regional competition aimed at giving out-of-contract players a platform to market themselves.

Fuz will travel with a 16-man squad for the regional competition.

Maringwa challenged youngsters to attend the training.

“We don’t discriminate in terms of age because we understand that there are late bloomers in football and we will leave the coaches to select a squad that they feel will represent us well and the players in it will be able to attract clubs. However, clubs prefer younger players and in coming up with a balance, the older players should be below 30 years,” Maringwa said.

After last year’s tournament, which had Zimbabwe, DRC, Botswana and South Africa, former Highlanders’ striker Obert Tafira signed a contract with Pretoria University FC.

@ZililoR