adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
WORLD Navi Northern Region Division One soccer league chairman Willard Manyengavana believes there is still more to be done to take their league to the next level.
The Northern Region League championship ended on November 22 with Flame Lily being crowned champions for the 2014 season.
On Saturday they concluded their programme for this year with the inaugural Yadah TV Knock-out Cup that was won by Ngezi Platinum.
Manyengavana said they had a fruitful season that saw the Region getting a sponsor for the first time in the form of a Japanese-based company, World Navi, who are involved in selling second hand cars.
World Navi presented three cars to the league and one was awarded to the Soccer Star of the Year, Zivanai Mhanda, while the other two were used for the raffle run by the league.
“We had a very good season, very competitive, well organised but sometimes you don’t need to beat your own drum because people have acknowledged that we have done a very good job,” said Manyengavana.
“But I think from an administration point of view we are not yet satisfied with what we have done.
“We need to do more, we need to make sure that we have a lot of sponsorship on board for the benefit of our clubs.
“I am happy with the performance of the clubs. I think the standard of play was quite good and at some point you could not believe it was Division One football.
“It was just as good as Premier League football and we are happy about that.”
Manyengavana said next year they would concentrate more on the development of young players.
“We also want to make sure that in 2015 we concentrate on development in the Northern Region.
“We really want to develop football, so we need to continue with our plans to have at least Under-23 players playing in Division One as opposed to these so-called old guards. “I think we need youngsters, that’s the only way we can contribute to our national team.
“That’s what we really want to achieve. By the time our term ends we must make sure that all the teams will be fielding Under-23 players only.
“We actually started this year where we were saying at least three or five players should be Under-23.
“Now what we want to do is to make sure that in 2015 we have between five and six players being Under-23s. By the time we come to the end of our term, that is in 2017, and then elections will be 2018, we must make sure all teams should be fielding Under-23s.
“But you know the system of change, it cannot be abrupt it has to come gradually where they phase off the old players and recruit young players. So by 2017 every team should be fielding Under-23 players.”
He said although they recorded success in some areas, some clubs were still struggling financially with some failing to fulfil matches towards the end of the season.
“Basically, some of our teams are struggling financially. This is the reason why I said we cannot rest on our laurels and believe that we have done a good job.
“Our teams are really struggling and we need to work hard to make sure that we alleviate their problems and, of course, some of them could not fulfil a few games because of financial problems,” said Manyengavana.
World Navi company managing director, Yoshifumi Sawada, who was in the country last week and attended the inaugural Northern Region Soccer Stars of the Year, said he was hopeful they would extend their partnership to 2015.
“For the next year, yes, we are hoping to renew the sponsorship. We have actually been helped a lot by being sponsors for the Northern Region soccer league so, yes, I hope to make our negotiations for the next year to be successful.
“I would like to actually do more things for the Northern Region soccer league next year if possible,” said Sawada.
Online Reporter