Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
FOUR Zifa Southern Region Division One League teams that had been booted out for not making commitments to pay affiliation fees have been handed a lifeline if they can regularise their status by Friday.
The Zifa Southern Region executive met on Friday last week and resolved to re-admit 2019 Division One league runners-up Talen Vision, Casmyn, Mainline from Plumtree and Mosi Rovers of Victoria Falls on condition that they pay affiliation fees by Friday.
Their slots in Division One had been given to Division Two clubs.
Fiso Siziba, Zifa Southern Region board member responsible for competitions, said they will confirm all names of clubs that will compete in their league by Friday.
“The league composition shall be made of 18 teams, including some whose franchise offers were earlier withdrawn, but are being considered for readmission after their applications were dealt with by the board. We are happy to have found each other as a Region, with most of our clubs committing to the cause. We are set to roll out an entertaining football package spreading across the Region as far as Binga and Victoria Falls and Plumtree,” said Siziba.
With the Northern Region Division One League having kicked off at the weekend, Siziba said late submission of Covid-19 test results by clubs was one of the factors affecting kick-off.
“Resumption of football came with certain protocols and at an additional cost which some of our teams could not afford to adhere to given the long period of inactivity. Some of the clubs are yet to provide their Covid-19 test results, which obviously come at a cost.
The issue of venue inspections has also been our undoing given that venues belonging to local authorities were not accessible as yet.
“We also have clubs owned by companies, which usually close down during the festive season, whom we had to engage and liaise with and ensure our programme won’t be affected since this is the first time that we have played football during the festive period,” Siziba said.
He said once they are done with club registrations, they will release the fixtures.
The seasoned football administrator said negotiations with a prospective sponsor for the possibility of a pre-season knockout tournament to start in the second weekend of December are at an advanced stage. — @ZililoR
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