OPINION: Zimbabwe should be learning from Eswatini, not the other way round

There is something flattering about Zimbabwean football, even flattering in a bittersweet way, that a parliamentary delegation from Eswatini came to Harare to benchmark our football model on 17 July 2026.

It signals that Zimbabwe still matters in the regional imagination: our pitches attract talent, our clubs attract money, and our league has become a destination. That recognition should make us proud, but it should not blind us.

Shouldn’t we be on the flight to Mbabane to learn what they have been doing to suddenly attract our attention?

The facts on the ground tell a different story. Eswatini is now exporting players who are making an immediate impact in the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League. Standouts like Hardrock’s Neliswa Dlamini (23) and Scottland’s Kwakhe Thwala (24) are not curiosities; they are proof that Eswatini’s development pathways are producing professionals ready for tougher foreign markets.

On the international stage, Eswatini is catching up: a 4–0 aggregate win over Zimbabwe in the 2025 CHAN qualifiers and Nsingizini Hotspurs eliminating Simba Bhora in the CAF Champions League preliminary round are signals of intentional progress.

Meanwhile, our recent boom looks artificial. Wealthy club owners have poured money into squads, creating a short-term spectacle. There is no meaningful broadcasting revenue, and the league’s biggest title payout is about US$100,000, which could be less than some clubs’ monthly expenditure.

Big clubs operate without known academies and lean on imports despite the club-licensing rhetoric from the football association. Highlanders alone has tried to maintain a feeder team, Bosso 90. Our recent popularity in the region is not borne out of a system but of a shopping spree.

Eswatini’s delegation should have come to Harare to admire our market pull, yes, but the real lesson is ours to learn. With a population of 1.23 million, Eswatini is building structures that produce players who are ready for professional football abroad. They are doing the hard, less glamorous work — coaching, scouting, youth pathways — that turns raw talent into exportable assets. Zimbabwe, with 17.3 million people and the recent influx of money, should be asking how Eswatini is doing it while we are not.

If we want lasting strength, prestige must be matched by planning. We have to convert the current financial muscle into academies, coaching pipelines, and sustainable youth systems that will consistently produce quality players for both local and foreign markets.

Only then will the attention from neighbours be deserved for the right reasons. That our only two exports to South Africa in January, Emmanuel Jalai and Mason Mushore, are back with local clubs a few months later explains the problems with our talent-development pipeline.

The Eswatini visit is flattering because it recognises our pull. It should also be humbling: the country we once outpaced is now teaching us how to make talent durable. Zimbabwe should welcome the delegation, but mustn’t forget that Eswatini is no longer learning from us. We must now learn from them.