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THE congested domestic soccer season will run until just five days before Christmas and Castle Lager Premier Soccer League clubs will have to brace even for mid-week games. Speaking at a networking session for local media sponsored by Supersport in the capital yesterday, PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele said the last match of the year will be played on December 20.
The Mbada Diamonds Cup final, expected to be one of two tournaments to feature all 16 clubs of the league, will be the final game of the year.
Ndebele said the programme would be congested as the Warriors will also be involved in the 2015 Afcon tournament qualifiers.
He said due to failure to get a sponsor for the traditional season opener, the Charity Shield, the season will now get underway on March 30.
“The season may have to start without the Charity Shield. We have not found a sponsor for it and then we will have the Independence Cup semi-finals coming up.
“There will be the Super Eight starting in May, a 16-team tournament to run up to end of September and the Mbada Cup starting in October. We are looking at the season ending a few days before Christmas over and above the 240 league matches.
“We are looking at more mid-week matches and have set aside five weekends for the Afcon qualifiers and there is also the Cosafa Senior Challenge,” said Ndebele.
On SuperSport coverage, Ndebele said they were negotiating with city councils for the improvement of facilities.
He Mandava Stadium owners in Zvishavane have allocated and erected structures for camerapersons covering matches for television broadcasts.
He said more matches could be covered by SuperSport if clubs agreed to have double headers.
“We will, however, continue to have double headers for Cup games,” said the football administrator whose League was praised by SuperSport for the professionalism in which they were managing the game.
Max Chunungwa of SuperSport said the Zimbabwean clubs had not yet warmed up to mid-week matches.
“We need more days in order to beat the previous figure of 53 Premiership televised last season, we don’t want to make it 54. But we have limitations because of floodlights also, clubs are scared off by the electricity bills.
“We are committed to giving our viewers more games on television. The big derbies will also feature on high definition,” said Chunungwa.
Another exciting feature for this season will be magazine shows for all 16 clubs and the PSL.
The magazine shows will be extensive coverage of the clubs, their history, top players, their legends, management and homes.
SuperSport said they would continue to invest in the development of local journalists and administrators by exposing them to better practices.
Last year aspiring Zifa board member Tawengwa Hara, PSL marketing boss Rodwell Thabe, Monomotapa boss Joseph Mukoki and the league’s competitions manager Elisha Mandireva attended a block release course sponsored by Supersport in Kenya.
Several journalists were taken to Germany and South Africa.
Chunungwa also said they were keen to expose local boxing and would be eager to meeting the boxing board as they were now covering the sport in some countries within the continent.
Online Reporter