Online Reporter
Tongai Mashonga
KWEKWE had waited 17 years for this.
So when the gates of the brand new Chahwanda Stadium opened on Sunday, the city turned the afternoon into a football carnival as thousands streamed in to watch Hardrock host Scottland in the Premier Soccer League.
The match ended goalless.
But nobody really cared about the score.
This was about a city getting its game back.
Hours before kick-off, the roads leading to the stadium were already alive.
Groups of supporters walked from Mbizo and nearby suburbs, some covering close to ten kilometres just to see what everyone had been talking about for months.
Inside the stadium, many fans kept glancing around the stands as much as they watched the football.
Mayor Albert Zinhanga could hardly hide his excitement.
“I could see people walking all the way from Mbizo,” he said. “You could feel how much this moment meant to the city. Football has come back to Kwekwe.”
What stands there now rose almost out of nowhere.
Fifteen months ago, the same piece of land was still covered in thick bush.
Construction started in November 2024 after Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Owen Ncube performed the ground-breaking ceremony.
Today it is the most modern football venue in the country.
Hardrock’s rise has been just as rapid.
The club fought their way up from the ZIFA Midlands Division Two, climbed through Division One and finally earned their place in the Premier Soccer League, bringing elite football back to the city in the process.
Sunday’s occasion even drew visitors from South Africa.
AmaZulu chairman Sandile Zungu, and members of his delegation, travelled from Durban to watch the match.
Outside the stadium the business of football was already booming.
Food vendors lined the roads leading to the ground while supporters queued at makeshift stalls for drinks, braai and club merchandise before squeezing through the turnstiles.
For local resident, Sarah Moyo, the afternoon felt like something she normally only sees on television.
“I always watch European football with my family at home,” she said.
“Being inside a stadium like this in our own city was something else.”
When the final whistle blew the scoreboard still read goalless.
But the crowd walked out smiling.
Kwekwe finally has its football home again.
