adminLovemore Zigara in Gweru
FOURTEEN teams have registered for the Zifa Central Region Soccer League (CSL) ahead of the new season which is scheduled to kick off on March 17.
Two clubs, Makusha and ZRP Gwanda who were part of the league last season failed to pay their affiliation fees whose deadline was February 28.
Favc and West Nicholson who won promotion into First Division on Zifa Matabeleland South tickets also failed to affiliate, putting CSL plans to have an 18 team league up in smoke.
CSL chairman Stanley Chapeta said there is still a chance for the league to have two more teams joining the league this season as Border Strikers and Jena Mines have asked for the vacant slots.
“At the end of the affiliation deadline which we set at the annual general meeting, we had 14 clubs that had affiliated with the league. We are happy with the response from the clubs, but we only had four clubs failing to affiliate because of financial challenges.
“We have opened a window for two clubs, which are Border Strikers and Jena Mines. They have expressed interest in taking two of the vacant slots and have up to Monday to affiliate with the league. After this we are going to release the fixture ahead of the season,” said Chapeta.
The CSL season is going to kick off with the league having secured a $45 000 sponsorship from a Gweru-based medical aid company.
The Zimbabwe Medical Aid General Fund is set to bankroll this year’s league and the launch of the sponsorship package is set to be held before the season kicks off.
The last time the region had sponsorship was in 2010 when Gweru based electrical company Kayzed Sales injected $20 000 to sponsor the league’s end of year awards. — @lavuzigara1
Online Reporter