Marlborough High School soccer star Leeroy Mavhunga is set to take his career to a whole new level when he represents is country at the forthcoming PPC Cosafa Under-20 Championship in South Africa this month.

The regional soccer tournament takes place in South Africa’s North West province from December 7-16.

Zimbabwe will play in Group B alongside Zambia and Malawi. The teams will play each other in a round-robin format with the top sides from each pool advancing to the semi-finals.

Mavhunga, a vital cog in the Marlborough first team that won the Harare provincial soccer championship but failed to defend their national title, is favoured to make it in the travelling delegation to South Africa, after managing to join camp early this week.

Zimbabwe Under-20 coach Mandla Mpofu called 35 players into camp at the Zifa Village last week but Mavhunga, who turns out for Zifa Northern Region First Division champions Yadah FC, was only able to heed the call this week as he was yet to complete his final O Level examinations at Marlborough.

A source said, after sitting his Mathematics exam on Tuesday, Mavhunga immediately commuted from the nearby Westgate shopping centre to Mt Hampden to link up with his Young Warriors teammates in training at the Zifa Village.

“A number of his classmates accompanied him to the Lomagundi Road taxi rank where he hopped on to a Mt Hampden commuter omnibus that would drop him at the Zifa Village turn-off. He was very excited about his prospects for the Young Warriors,’’ said the source, one of Mavhunga’s schoolmates.

Coach Mpofu is excted to trim his squad to 22 this weekend before the team heads for the Limpopo ahead of the games opener on Wednesday.

It is not the first time though for Mavhunga to play for the national Under-20 team. He made his junior international debut in May this year when Zimbabwe held fancied Cameroon to a draw in an Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations second round first leg qualifier at the National Sports Stadium.

Mavhunga entered as a 46th minute substitute and almost created a goal later in the second half when he exchanged some illuminating one-two passes with Highlanders hitman Prince Dube who, however, shot wide.

According to his schoolmates, Mavhunga has set his sights on returning to Marlborough for his Advanced Level studies if he passes enough subjects from his ‘O’ Level examinations.