Fifa reprieve: A time to reset

IF there was any time to put the wrongs in local football right, this is the time.

Fifa on Monday gave Zimbabwe football a new lease of life by setting up a normalisation committee tasked with bringing some sanity into the local game.

Fifa unveiled a four-member normalisation committee that will run the affairs of Zifa for the next 12 months.

This follows the lifting of the suspension of Zimbabwe from the international football fora.

With the revocation of the suspension, the Warriors will be in the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers today.

Fifa head of development programmes in Africa, Solomon Mudege yesterday morning unveiled former Dynamos boss Lincoln Mutasa as the chairman of the normalisation committee.

Mutasa will work with ex-Mighty Warriors player and coach Rosemary Mugadza, Sikhumbuzo Ndebele who played for AmaZulu and Highlanders FC and lawyer Nyasha Samanyandwe.

Football fans and experts are excited and some feel this could be the perfect restart.

Former Zifa boss, Vincent Pamire, under whom the Warriors qualified for the Afcon finals in 2003 for the first time is happy that the wait is over. He thinks it is an opportune time for football to bring Zimbabweans together in a sport they love.

“At last as Zimbabwe we can come together and support the people tasked with setting the foundation of the future of the game. Let us all rally behind them. It is a good thing done by Fifa and Sport and Recreation Commission to bring an end to our international isolation. Hope we will do things right, football needs peace,” said Pamire.

Football analyst Sakheleni Nxumalo said this is the time for Zifa to rebuild.

“It’s an opportunity for us to press the reset button, start on a clean slate and rebuild.

“This can only be possible if football people have drawn lessons from this whole debacle because as the local football community we are all responsible somehow for the mess that we have just emerged from. Football people must step up and lead,” said Nxumalo.

Football administrator Siphambaniso Dube said from Manchester in the United Kingdom that he welcomes the idea that the voting system for office bearers at Zifa has to change.

“It’s all systems go for now and I guess a lesson was learnt by the football electorate. Never vote an administrator based on him giving you money for your vote. That’s desperate and corrupt means of getting into power. The electorate should vote leaders based on the promise they sell to them if voted into office.

“Your manifesto to take Zifa to the next level is key. Our football was infiltrated by politicians rather than administrators as such politics is all about fights. We lost it there. Let the incoming leaders have a football development template or a strategic document that will lead us to the next level,” said Dube.

Dube, who is respected for his role in nurturing many young players in Bulawayo, said it would be prudent if youth teams were revived and partake in developmental tournaments.

He advised government to revisit the tax incentives to excite corporate sector into sponsoring sport.

Zimbabwe was suspended by the global governing body in February 2022 following perceived government interference in the running of the troubled football association.

Veteran football commentator Muzi Hadebe also feels this could be a starting point for Zimbabwe.

“I think whichever way we look at it, this gives our football a new start. It’s good to be back under Fifa. It’s a big chance for us to put in place the necessary football structures from grassroots to the national team. I think focus should be on training in all aspects and sectors of our game especially the train the trainer concept will help us cover all areas of our game if FIFA funds are applied for and put to good use. The normalisation committee needs the surpport of every one of us who love football,” said Hadebe.

The executive committee of ZIFA was dissolved in November 2021 by the country’s Sport and Recreation Commission, a government-appointed body that regulates the running of sport in the country.

This was after allegations of financial and sex abuse.

Zifa were accused of failing to account for money given to them ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals.

Zimbabwe played in the qualifiers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but were barred from taking part in the preliminaries for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals held in Ivory Coast.

The nation can now rejoice that the country will be in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers draw.
— @innocentskizoe