Fifa bail out Zifa

Sikhumbuzo Moyo in Harare
CASH-STRAPPED Zifa will soon receive $100,000 from the world soccer motherbody Fifa, that will go towards buying equipment to be installed at the Zifa Village.
This was revealed by the out going Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede in an interview with Chronicle soon after a tour of the facility by stakeholders in Harare on Wednesday.

“The construction of the Zifa Village project is well on course. When we were in South Africa recently, we were informed that Fifa have approved disbursement of $100,000 that will go towards securing equipment to be installed in the conference centre and the whole area there. Any minute from now those funds will be with us and we are thrilled as an association,” said Gumede.

Part of the equipment to be bought could include gym equipment and other accessories to be used by national teams during camp. The Zifa Village is a state-of-the-art facility.

When complete the association will cut down on camping costs for national teams and there will be an artificial surface training facility.

The Zifa Village will also be available for camps for other sporting disciplines and conferences.

A visit by Chronicle on Wednesday revealed that there was a lot of activity with workers putting finishing touches to the artificial turf.

“Work on the artificial turf is progressing well and in fact it should have been complete by November last year but heavy rains have not been kind. Any moment now the place should be ready for use,” said Gumede.

Workers at the pitch concurred with Gumede that rains have been a major stumbling block.

Gumede said work would be completed as soon as conditions become favourable.

With the Warriors set to start their road to the Nations Cup finals soon, the next camp could be at Zifa Village.

Ian Gorowa is a known critic of training on an artificial surface and hopes are that the Mount Hampden one will be better than the hard pitch at Rufaro Stadium which has left many a player with ankle and knee injuries.

Last year Gorowa convinced Zifa to shift the Warriors base from Harare to Bulawayo where they used Barbourfields Stadium.

Barring any last minute and political changes, the 2015 Nations Cup campaign home matches are set to be played at Emagumeni.

Meanwhile, Zifa have offered Gorowa a contract and are waiting to hear from the South Africa-based mentor, who wrote a small piece of history for himself by leading the Warriors to the semi-finals of the African Nations Championship in South Africa where they lost to Africa powerhouse Nigeria, in a third place play-off.

Zifa chief executive officer, Jonathan Mashingaidze said the document was drafted before the Chan finals but Gorowa said he would get back to the national association after the tournament.

“The contract is already with him but he said he would come back to us after the finals so as an association we are waiting for him. If it takes long we might have to remind him,” said Mashingaidze.

After the Chan finals, there were some reports that underachieving South Africa were interested in the services of the former Black Rhinos and Dynamos forward but those reports were quickly rubbished by Safa.