Warriors fail to break 10-year jinx

Eddie Chikamhi

Zimpapers Sports Hub

THE curtain comes down on a season of mixed fortunes for Zimbabwean football with the rankings jinx still a major concern as the Warriors end outside the FIFA top 100 for the tenth year running.

Zimbabwe are set to close the year at number 121 in the world and 33rd in Africa, according to the December 2024 FIFA rankings.

They opened the year sitting on 124, and this means the Warriors made only three strides up.

Zimbabwe plunged outside the top 100 in October 2014, and since then they have been unable to recover despite qualifying for four AFCON finals during the period.

The rankings jinx comes with unpleasant repercussions, including the poor seeding for international tournaments.

Rankings also affect brand attractiveness as well as the ability to lure good opponents for international friendly matches.

“There are so many advantages that come with high rankings,” ZIFA technical director Jethro Hunidzarira told Zimpapers Sports Hub recently.

“Apart from boosting the players’ morale, it also helps them get better ratings on the international scene.

“So, we need to make sure we continue working our way upwards. We need to make sure that we have enough time for preparations and enough resources to motivate our boys so that they will be able to deliver.

“When we get higher rankings, we get seeded for international tournaments. It’s also good for our image as a footballing nation because even some of those highly ranked teams will likely want to engage us in friendly games,” said Hunidzarira.

However, it will take a lot of effort and resources to get Zimbabwe back into the top 100, let alone match their best ranking of number 40, which they achieved in April 1995.

The current rankings are likely to be used for the upcoming 2025 AFCON draws to be conducted in Morocco on January 27.

Zimbabwe are among the 24 nations that have qualified for the continental football jamboree. Unfortunately, they are ranked second last among the finalists, only better than neighbours Botswana, ahead of the draw.

For most of last year, the Warriors looked direction-less with coaches appointed on an ad hoc basis. But the arrival of German Michael Nees appears to have brought a bit of stability.

Nees was appointed in August when the team was ranked 129th, and back-to-back wins over Namibia in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers helped them rise 12 places in two months.

But ZIFA’s decision to field a largely experimental side for the CHAN tournament qualifiers against Eswatini from late October into early November returned to bite the rankings and reversed the gains they had made the previous month.

The 4-0 aggregate defeat to Eswatini in the first round of the 2025 CHAN qualifiers ranks among their lowest moments this year.

Zimbabwe rested their senior players, and coach Nees was replaced by his assistant, Takesure Chiragwi, in that two-legged encounter against a team coached by former Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic.

Put the CHAN debacle aside, it was AFCON qualification that brought cheer after the Warriors snatched one of the two tickets in Group J along with Cameroon. The group also included Kenya and Namibia.

Zimbabwe only lost once in the campaign after going down 2-1 to Cameroon in Yaoundé.

“I think we can be satisfied with the campaign,” said Nees.

“Actually, we qualified with one game to spare. And when you look at how we started, actually I arrived very late and had to open myself up to working with all the staff I had never worked with before.

“At the same time, they had to open themselves up towards me because they also never worked with me. And I think we can be very satisfied with how things were going. We were undefeated until the match against Cameroon.”

Nees began his tenure with a five-match unbeaten streak, which included two draws against Kenya, a draw with Cameroon, and back-to-back wins over Namibia.

“The group was very, very competitive. And I was surprised that in the second game against Cameroon in Uganda, how we played there, then after such a short period of time the players . . . They really played on a very, very high level, and it showed the potential in the team.

“But I knew also it wasn’t yet based on a stable foundation, but rather on a good team spirit, on good teamwork together. So, that was at the beginning a bit of a surprise.

“Then I knew the longer we are together, the more often we are together, the more we get automatic understanding.”

The German coach was impressed by the team’s ability to adapt to challenges.

Zimbabwe were still recovering from the hangover of the FIFA suspension and played all games away due to the unavailability of an approved home ground.

They rented stadiums in Uganda and South Africa.

“It’s a long period that you don’t have home matches, and this qualification was a bit unique.

“It was not that we qualified for the first time with Zimbabwe for the AFCON, but I think we qualified under the most difficult circumstances and the most difficult situation,” said Nees.

With the year coming to an end, the German coach believes work is still on as the Warriors are set to resume the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in March with matches against Benin and Nigeria.

Zimbabwe currently sits at the bottom of the six-team pool with two points from four games.

“We need to sit down now and plan the full year . . . I’m pretty confident, because now we have time. The time pressure was one of the biggest challenges for this team, and they managed it very well,” said Nees.