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Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
AFTER a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19, all First Division football leagues across the country have been scheduled to start on October 29.
This follows the Government’s clearance for the resumption of all sporting activities following a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases as well as significant compliance to the current vaccination drive.
First Division football was last played in December 2019 and some clubs in all the four regions had been teetering on the brink of collapse with players going for months without receiving salaries.
The October-April calendar which the divisions are adopting could as well work as a case-study on the feasibility of shifting the football season to the August-May term like what is happening with the European and other African leagues.
The Herald is also reliably informed that the Premier Soccer League season is scheduled to kick-off two weeks before the First Division leagues, a development which will balance the relegation-promotion matrix.
The decision was arrived at after a marathon meeting of all the four regions in Masvingo on Saturday. Northern Region Soccer League representative, Sweeney Mushonga, said preparations are already underway ahead of the league start.
“The lift on the ban of sport is a welcome development and as First Division leagues, we have wasted no time in crafting the way forward,” said Mushonga.
“We have held our meeting as First Division football leagues and we have resolved to start our season on October 29.
“This is not to say we have shifted the season but we have realised that we needed to start playing the game and the only way is to do it in a league format so that everyone is involved.
“Time is no longer on our side so it was agreed that the leagues start at the end of October and it will end around April next year.”
Central Region Board Member Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Pithias Shoko, said the clubs have been waiting patiently for the lift in the ban of football activities.
“As Central Region, we would like to thank the Government for allowing sporting activities to resume with Covid-19 protocols in place,” said Shoko. “The clubs here have been waiting and we are celebrating the development. Now we have started preparing for the start of the league.
“The players have been training alone at their homes and we hope the pre-season time we have allocated them will help them get into shape ahead of the start of the games.”
The leagues have set aside this week up to September 17 for vaccination of athletes and officials against Covid-19, with the same period also seeing the training of compliance officers.
The pre-season will then kick off on September and players will be registered up to October 22, the same period teams’ venues will be under inspection.
The leagues will break for the Christmas holidays between December 17-27 and the mid-season window opens between January 1-31 next year.
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