adminLovemore Dube, Sports Editor
CASTLE Lager Premier Soccer League clubs are set to heave a sigh of relief when a resolution to form a National Division One League is passed today. A three-day retreat is under way at the Zifa Village in Mount Hampden where members of the Zifa Assembly and secretariat are working on the constitution with a delegation from Fifa led by regional officer Ashford Mamelodi.
Zifa’s constitution is outdated with some clauses not in sync with the latest trends in the sport’s global administration. In the new constitution, one of the biggest changes will be the introduction of a National Division One League. This will see two clubs relegated from the Premier Soccer League at the end of the year instead of four.
For the struggling nine teams on the log, this should be welcome news as the prospect of four clubs sinking was added pressure on the bottom of the log clubs.
Article 16.1: The Premier Soccer League shall be responsible for the proper administration and development of football pertaining to the top flight League. The League shall receive from the National League two (2) teams which would have qualified for promotion and refer those teams relegated back to the National League.
16.2 National League: The National League shall be run directly by Zifa. The National League shall promote two deserving clubs into the Premier Soccer League and demote four (4) clubs to the Division 1 and receive champions from the regional Division One.
In the past four teams have been relegated, and one each promoted from the four Division One Soccer Leagues. There have been arguments that more competitive leagues in the world have one promotional division contributing two clubs like the English Premiership and the Spanish La Liga.
Having 64 teams contributing four to the Premiership, has weakened the two brands of PSL and Division One football.
The tally of 64 teams represents a potential four divisions meaning clubs that should be playing Area Zone football find themselves at a higher league than reality. Zifa will run the National League though some find logic in having it under the Premier Soccer League who they believe have a better profile to find sponsorship.
Another school of thought is that Zifa should concern itself with the development leagues among which is junior football and the regional Division One, Two and Three Leagues.
In the proposed new constitution, the National League will have two representatives in the Zifa Assembly. Members of the regional league will second a member each to the Zifa Assembly who will no longer be board members. Provinces will have a member each in the supreme decision making arm of the association – the Zifa Assembly. Leagues in the proposed constitutional changes would be semi-autonomous bodies.
The National Women’s Soccer League could find itself run by a management committee different from the Mavis Gumbo national association according to Article 16.5 of the proposed changes.
Match-fixing would be covered in the new document. Zifa had challenges in dealing with the Asiagate scandal because that was not covered by the old constitution or the country’s laws.
Article 19 says all leagues falling under Zifa are expected to guard against match manipulation and appoint a person responsible for ethics and integrity within its structures who shall report all suspicious or incidents related to match-fixing to the Zifa secretariat.
All incidents and suspicions would be investigated and persons implicated shall be suspended. Culprits shall be dealt with within the Fifa statutes.
In the new constitution a member can be expelled from the association if there is a three quarter majority of votes taken.
It has also been proposed that honorary members will not hold any office within Zifa. In the past we have had situations where finance committee members like Richard Maseko are honorary life members of the association. Zifa are likely to have a headache with Article 44 which deals with assets. They are in favour of registering all immovable properties under the Zimbabwe Football Trust.
However they have faced challenges with trying to establish the exact location and consent of some members of the Zifa Trustees who were the custodians of the properties. These include Frank Valdermarca believed to be in the UK.
Efforts in the past to have Zifa properties as collateral when seeking loans or over draft facilities have failed in that they would not have provided title deeds.
Councillors want specific targets to be set for the chief executive officer in the constitution so that his performance can be assessed against given measurables.
Online Reporter