Online Reporter
FOR decades, Dynamos Football Club were not just a sporting team – they were an institution that touched many facets since their 1963 inception.
The storied Glamour Boys instilled fear in opponents and pride in their supporters.
Their blue shirt was not just a kit, it was a symbol of excellence, resistance, dominance and aspiration in the pre-Independence era such that they also became one of the symbols of the country’s struggle for emancipation from colonial bondage.
But as the 2025 Premier Soccer League (PSL) season heads into its final and decisive stretch, Dynamos find themselves nine points from safety, with 16 points from 23 games – and facing a very grim reality of the threat of relegation.
Should DeMbare go down, it would be the first time that the country’s most successful club would have been demoted from the elite league.
It could also leave CAPS United and Highlanders as the only members of the traditional Big Three still standing in the PSL. We believe that the saddest part of what is happening at Dynamos is that it is neither a sudden fall nor slip.
It is a long, slow unravelling and yet self-inflicted implosion.
As often reported in this and our sister publications, Dynamos have been a club that has clung stubbornly to their past, while the rest of Zimbabwean football has evolved.
For too long, Dynamos have been busy fighting battles in boardrooms, while neglecting the very essence of football – the game itself.
Internal politics, regular executive reshuffles and power struggles have become the defining characteristics of the once-great club, which many a talented young footballer aspired to play for.
While all the negativity has been weighing down on the fabric that has held Dynamos together, clubs like Ngezi Platinum Stars, FC Platinum, Chicken Inn, even newcomers like Simba Bhora and more recently Scottland and MWOS, have come on board to challenge the establishment.
They have built their sides on professional structures, invested in player development, embraced sports science and forged modern footballing identities.
Yet at Dynamos, they have been doing the opposite of what defines a modern football institution.
They have dismissed coaches mid-season, gone for months without scouting properly in terms of their talent ranks, failed to pay players on time and reportedly left technical staff to fund training logistics on several occasions.
One of the sad developments is that they have held onto the name “Dynamos” as if that alone is enough to win matches in 2025, when it is not.
When they should have been building academies, they were chasing signatures. When they should have been creating performance-driven cultures, they were engaged in court battles and fighting on that front. We believe that any discussions and solutions on the Dynamos question should be centred on a structural revamp.
This is because when DeMbare sneeze, the Premiership catches a cold and as CAPS United president Farai Jere has often said, “The league needs a strong Dynamos to be exciting and competitive’’.
Thus, the present scenario, where a slew of problems have threatened to grind business to a halt, might be laughable to some of their rivals, but has a bearing on the state of the national game.
When they should have been planning for continental football, they were withdrawing from CAF competitions due to “financial challenges”.
Now, with 11 matches remaining, Dynamos are staring down the barrel. A club with 21 league titles may soon be playing Division One football. And if that happens, no one should pretend to be shocked.
This moment was coming. The players know it. The fans have felt it. And the football community has whispered about it for years – Dynamos are not growing along with their peers like Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa or the Egyptian pair of Al Ahly and Zamalek.
Instead DeMbare are surviving, albeit barely.
The solutions that are needed are not cosmetic. They must also be a huge lesson to everyone involved in club football.
Firing one more coach will not solve this. Appointing a new chairman mid-season will not create goals.
What Dynamos and all such minded clubs need is structural reform, a professional front office with clear performance indicators, a sporting director with technical autonomy, a return to robust youth development and scouting networks, transparency in finances and player welfare, and above all, a shared vision for what Dynamos ought to be and not just what it used to be.
There is still time.
Dynamos can survive this season, but that should not be mistaken for success.
It should be a wake-up call. Because the truth is hard, but unavoidable.
Dynamos have stayed in one place for too long, while Zimbabwean football moved on.
ZIFA as the custodians of all organised football in the country, should mediate among stakeholders to restore trust, enforce governance standards and support technical development.
The PSL must balance disciplinary enforcement with collaborative support, helping Dynamos access vital financial and administrative resources and facilitating sponsorship opportunities. The Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) should audit the club’s management, mandate reforms, and help secure conditional funding to stabilise the club.
Together, these bodies can drive a multi-institutional recovery: reinstating democratic governance, ensuring professional management, safeguarding player welfare, and rebuilding commercial viability.
Such unity is crucial to revive Dynamos as the sustainable, community-centred football giant Zimbabweans cherish.
To lose Dynamos to relegation or mismanagement would be to lose a vital piece of the nation’s sporting heritage.
The football fraternity, Government, and supporters must therefore unite to restore the club’s glory and safeguard Zimbabwe’s football future.
There is nothing unusual about Dynamos being relegated and playing in D1 next season. So many big teams world over have faced the same fate. Across the Limpopo, we have Jomo Cosmos that went into extinction. We have Leeds United in England that Lucas Radebe captained into relegation a few years back. Juventus of Italy was punished for gross football ethics violations and was demoted to the lower league in Italy a few seasons ago. We have our own Zimbabwe Saints that went down forever. So all this hype around a Dynamos relegation threat is not worth our time. The Dynamos of George Shaya is not the Dynamos of Emmanuel Jalai. Comparing the two simply lacks common sense.