Matches at single venue: Move to curb match-fixing

Raymond Jaravaza
THE revolution will be televised!

It has emerged that playoffs to determine two second tier league teams that will join the Premier Soccer League for the 2017 season are set to be played at one venue and beamed live on television to curb match fixing and cheating, B-Metro Sport can reveal.

Two bottom placed Premiership clubs, instead of the traditional four, face the axe at the end of the 2016 season and will be replaced by two clubs from Division One.

The top team from each of the four Division One leagues, the Southern, Eastern, Northern and Central regions clash in the newly introduced promotional playoffs at the end of the year.

And Zifa is cognisant of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that might bedevil the promotional playoffs as lower division clubs scramble to join Premier Soccer League football despite the monetary drain of playing at the top.

The chairpersons of the four regions met in Harare to deliberate on measures that will be put in place to curb match fixing, cheating and any other vices that might threaten the promotional playoffs.

Zifa competitions and finance committee chairmen Piraishe Mabhena and Philemon Machana also attended the meeting.

a�?To ensure fair play during the playoffs we decided that it is in the best interest of the game to televise all the matches. Without pre-empting the finer details we have approached a potential broadcaster to beam the matches live,a�? Musa Mandaza, who attended the meeting in his capacity as Southern Region league chairman, told B-Metro Sport.

The Premier Soccer League was not represented at the meeting as the timing clashed with the epic battle between Highlanders and Dynamos in Bulawayo a fortnight ago.

Only players registered at the close of the transfer window period in July are eligible to play in the promotional playoffs.

a�?Teams that are currently sitting in position one to five in all the four regions are expected to submit the names of players in their squads on or before 30 September. This is to ensure that only eligible players can take part in the promotional playoffs,a�? said Mandaza.

All the matches are likely to be played at the National Sports Stadium and spread over three weeks.

As things stand Border Strikers and Tsholotsho FC anchor the bottom of the Premiership log standings and are racing against time to avoid relegation.

In the second tier division leagues, Bantu Rovers lead the Southern Region while Black Rhinos are sitting in pole position in the Northern Region.

Blanket Mine and Buffaloes lead the Central and Eastern Regions respectively.