Tinotenda Taurai
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Tinotenda Taurai | ||
| Date of birth | 21 January 2004 | ||
| Place of birth | Belvedere, Harare | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Maningi Youth Soccer Academy | ||
| Number | 21 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| – | Faith Drive Academy | ||
| 2024 | Maningi Youth Soccer Academy | (13) | |
| National team | |||
| 2020 | U17 | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Tinotenda Taurai is a Zimbabwean footballer playing for Maningi Youth Soccer Academy in the Zimbabwe Women's Soccer League (ZWSL).
Background and Education
Tinotenda Taurai was born on 21 January 2004 in Belvedere, Harare. She comes from Rusape and she is the first born in a family of two girls. She did her Primary School education at Tambawadya Primary School in Mashonaland West Province before attending three schools for her high school studies namely Chikangwe High School in Karoi (Form 1), St. Joseph's Secondary School in Rusape (Form 2) and Nyamauru High School in Mutare (Form 3-6).
Career
Tinotenda developed interest in playing football at the age of eight years when she would choose a ball over a doll against the notion in many people that think girls should choose a doll. She loved playing plastic balls (popularly known as chikweshe in the ghetto) in the hood before she decided to join the school team when she was doing Grade 4.
After leaving Nyamauru High School she played for Faith Drive Academy from 2022 before joining Maningi Youth Soccer Academy in January 2024.[1] She had a stellar debut season at Maningi scoring 13 goals in the process establishing herself as one of the most feared forwards in the league with her bustling and pacy runs.
She also played for the National Under-17 Team in 2020 where she participated in the regional 2020 COSAFA Tournament in South Africa under coach Ennie Konje. She was also part of the Young Mighty Warriors squad that played in the World Cup preliminary round and lost to Botswana in January 2020.[2]
She dreams of being a world class player who will be making headlines on the international stage and her vision is to balance football talent with academic excellence as she dreams of attaining a Masters Degree in her chosen academic path. Her role models are superstars Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7) and Erling Haaland.
Scholarship
She has been awarded a scholarship to study at Bethel University in the USA where she will be studying and playing football at the same time starting in January 2025.
Gallery
