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Raymond Jaravaza, Sports Correspondent
THE 16 Zifa Southern Region Division One League clubs have started voting for the 2016 season Footballer of the Year, his two runners-up and Coach of the Year.
Ballots were dispatched to clubs last week, with the deadline for submissions set as November 19. Once nominations have been submitted, club representatives and members of the media will be invited for vote counting and verification.
“The media does not cover all our matches and so to be fair to the system, we asked clubs to do the voting themselves. The rules are that a club captain and the technical team cannot vote for a player or coach from their own team. The prizes as well as date for the awards ceremony will be announced in due course,” said Zifa Southern Region chairman Musa Mandaza.
Last year Philani Ncube was voted Coach of the Year for securing a Premier Soccer League ticket for Bulawayo City FC.
Ishmael Wadi, now with PSL side FC Platinum, was voted Footballer of the Year with Bulawayo City FC captain Xolisani Moyo and Technosphere’s Bekithemba Nyoni finishing as first and second runners-up respectively.
Last year’s awards were sponsored by the Southern Region Division One League patron, Bulawayo businessman Raj Modi. Mandaza said despite a few glitches earlier in the season, the league programme ran fairly smoothly.
Two clubs, the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and Technosphere relinquished their franchises citing lack of funds to continue in the league, a situation that disrupted the league fixtures.
Then in mid-May, Bulawayo Chiefs were involved in a near fatal accident in Hwange en route to Victoria Falls for a league match.
The team was not involved in the league for two months as players and officials recovered from various injuries sustained.
“Despite experiencing a few glitches during the course of the season, we are generally happy with the manner the league programme was run, but of course there is always room for improvement,” Mandaza said
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