The Zifa Northern Region Division One League is set to score a first by introducing a junior league which will be a feeder to the senior teams.

Willard Manyengavana, the League’s chairman, has revealed that their ambition is to groom most of their players.

“We don’t want a situation whereby our teams from the Northern Region get promoted into the Premier League and struggle,” said Manyengavana. “We want our teams to compete for honours with the same players they came with from our league.”

“Look at Herentals, they didn’t buy any big name players, but they finished in the sixth position, the best finish among Harare teams. So this is the thing we want from the Northern Region to have a huge player base to chose from. This is something we have been working on for some years. We want our teams to be very competitive and also that teams that come from our region into the premier league be competitive.”

Mushowani Stars who were promoted into the top-flight league from the Northern Region followed the path of Herentals of keeping faith in the players that won them promotion.