Football stars in high profile romance

By Grace Chingoma

HARARE – Mighty Warriors skipper Onai Chingawo is set to quit the game to commit her life to marriage when she weds her boyfriend, Dynamos forward Russell Madamombe later this year.

Madamombe, a former Monomotapa forward, is battling to fit into the DeMbare set-up after moving to the Glamour Boys during the off-season.

The Zimbabwe senior women’s soccer team goalkeeper follows in the footsteps of former Mighty Warriors midfielder Ruth Banda who also married another footballer, Esrom Nyandoro.

And the skipper, who has been enjoying her game with the national women’s soccer team, leading the team in the African jungles and beyond, says she would be retiring from football to focus on the new chapter in her life.

Chingawo returned home a week ago from Germany, where she had gone for trials with Bundesliga side Bayern Munich, together with her Mighty Warriors team mate Marjoury Nyaumwe.

While the duo are not yet sure about whether they made the grade, Zimbabwe’s number one goalkeeper is very sure on the giant step she has taken in her life after a career which spanned for a decade since her playing days at Mufakose High back in 2001.

“l am now married to Russell. But l was comfortable with keeping this from the media. l am still staying at home as we are still planning for the wedding,” said Chingawo. Marrying someone who plays soccer makes it easier for both of us as we will understand each other better and l think it is perfect.

“Russell supports me in my chosen career and doesn’t have a problem with me playing soccer but personally l feel l should retire from playing women’s soccer now and concentrate on my marriage.

“l am still thinking about it but l strongly feel l cannot mix the two, lengthy training camps and travelling. He has persuaded me to keep playing and l feel this is the right time to say goodbye now.

“Before getting married l have been mulling the idea to retire this year and maybe this is the perfect chance. I feel you should wave goodbye when everyone still loves you and still have a lot to offer.”

The Mufakose Queens goalkeeper also spoke about her 10-day attachment at Bayern.

“We had a good time at the club and we tried our best. We haven’t been informed of anything and coach Pagels (Klaus) told us that he hasn’t received anything.

“The training programme went on very well and we could relate with the way they do their training but what l observed is that all their players are quite big and l think they would want big players.

“I was the shortest goalkeeper as they really have tall and big goalkeepers and Marjoury was even worse and was the shortest player there,” said Chingawo.

Dynamos midfielder Madamombe could not be drawn to comment on their marriage and said he preferred to keep his private life out of the limelight.

Chingawo began playing football at Mufakose High in 2001 and made it into the team which went to Oslo for the Norway Cup, an international youth football tournament held annually.

From there, it was one way for the then teenage Chingawo and the following year she broke into the national team, understudying goalkepers such as Siduduzile Nkomo, Tafadzwa Mhundurwa and Daisy Mukwena.

The goalkeeper had the priviledge to play at the women’s version of the African Cup of Nations in 2002 and in 2004 and had the likes of former captain Nomsa “Boyz” Moyo and Sithetheliwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda for company.

When women’s soccer was revived in 2010, Chingawo was there to provide guidance to the young players and led the team to their first Cosafa Championship title in 2011 on home soil after beating rivals South Africa 1-0 at Rufaro.

The historic team was rewarded with a cool bonus of US$5 000 per player by President Robert Mugabe who is patron of the Mighty Warriors.

Chingawo also captained the team when they qualified for the All-Africa Games in the same year in Mozambique before the team broke new ground and went to Germany for an intensive training camp and played against Bundesliga teams.

Two months ago, she led her team on the tour of South America and they brought home silverware after they beat the Uruguay national team. At club level, Chingawo had a lenghty stint at Mufakose Queens, a powerhouse in the Northern Region then, but later to moved to Aces Youth Academy in 2011.

Last year she rejoined Mufakose Queens who finished as runners-up to Marange National Women’s Soccer League champions Black Rhinos.

The Mighty Warriors would be seeking to defend their Cosafa title this October in Namibia and the beautiful goalkeeper might by then have said farewell to the game which had become a big part of her life. The Herald