daniel chigunwe
Robson Sharuko
Senior Sports Editor
FOR all its challenges, there is something that domestic football has in abundance — dedicated and loyal cadres who will never turn their back on the sport.
Where many choose to see darkness, they choose to see the light, bubbling with confidence that tomorrow will be better than yesterday.
They still believe their favourite game still has a good future and will be freed from the chains, which have hooked it to the pillars of mediocrity, in the past few years.
There is no question domestic football has been severely tested, in recent years, and the Covid-19 pandemic only added to the cocktail of the challenges, which have been confronting it.
The Warriors have just crashed out of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, after just four rounds of matches, with the senior national team bottom of their group, with two more matches to play.
They are win-less, in their four group matches, with just a point, gained at home against Bafana Bafana, the only return, from their adventure.
Three of the games, two against the Black Stars of Ghana and one against Ethiopia, didn’t reap any reward, with the Warriors losing all the matches.
The country’s football leaders were forced to issue an apology.
“The Zimbabwe Football Association sincerely apologises to all football stakeholders for the senior national team’s back-to-back losses to Ghana and the eventual elimination from the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers,” ZIFA said in a statement.
“We fully understand the disappointment that comes with every unfavourable result from the national teams because we know just how much Zimbabweans love and support their team.
“ZIFA as the institution responsible for football in Zimbabwe, therefore, takes full responsibility for the Warriors’ failure to qualify for the World Cup irrespective of several impediments that further complicated the journey.
“In that regard, the association encourages all stakeholders to support the players and desist from insulting the players, secretariat, and technical team who all gave it their all albeit on a losing cause.”
“ZIFA hopes that the return of local football competitions previously suspended due to Covid-19 restrictions will increase national team coaches’ selection options.’’
But, amid the general disappointment, over the state of the national game, there are some Zimbabweans who are not just content to just be part of the gang which is unleashing the criticism.
Or just fold their arms, and watch from a distance, in the hope that something will happen and a Good Samaritan will eventually arrive on the scene, from Mars, to breathe life into their game.
They believe they have to play their part, in a very big way, without being sucked into the politics of the game, but coming up with interventions, which could help change the face of domestic football.
They feel the domestic game, without the injection of substantial financial support, will not realise its potential, and will continue to struggle to punch according to its weight.
Rather than spend the next two years, mourning the failed 2022 World Cup campaign, these individuals believe this is the right time to start to lay a strong foundation, on which the campaign, for the 2026 World Cup, will be built.
One of those individuals is Brian Mukudzavhu, the chief executive of Axis Solutions, a Pan African ITC company, who made the big plunge, into the trenches of domestic football, this week.
Axis Solutions became the first new sponsors, to come on board the local football bandwagon, after the damage inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
To show their commitment wasn’t just for the publicity, which such a marriage could generate, they didn’t go into the partnership with the domestic Premiership, whose activities are always under the local media spotlight.
Instead, they chose a marriage with Division One football, by pouring US$20 000, into the ZIFA Northern Region Soccer League.
Axis Solutions will bankroll the league’s Super 8 Cup, set to be played midway during the lower league’s season, while they also promised to pour more funds, into grassroots football.
“For us, we believe in development and we also believe in seeding,’’ Mukudzavhu said.
“What we realised is that instead of going for the Premier Soccer League, why don’t we go and start to plant?
“So, this is a way we are planting.
“We are looking at going beyond this Super 8 and also incorporate other regions in future.’’
Their sponsorship package includes incentives for players with the player of the tournament set to get US$500, the Golden Boot winner set to receive US$300, the Golden Glove winner set to get US$300 and the Coach of Tournament set to get US$400.
The company will also provide technology assistance to the league.
But, it’s the vision, which Mukudzavhu, and his company have, which suggests they are the right partners, for the game.
“The Northern Region Soccer League was just the starting but we have bigger plans like even going to the rural areas to develop talent,” he said.
“Our dream is that come 2026, Zimbabwe will be qualifying at the 2026 World Cup, using players groomed from these lower leagues and grassroots.’’
Online Reporter