Online Reporter
Petros Kausiyo and Tadious Manyepo-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIFA last night flexed their muscles and rightfully provided the much-needed guidance as they thwarted a controversial Premier Soccer League move to freeze relegation for the 2025 season and instead increase the number of teams in the top-flight.
The domestic football mother body, the ultimate authority of the game in the land, while taking note of the PSL’s resolution, reminded the 18 clubs that such a move, which has serious ramifications on the FIFA Fair Play tenets, was a matter for Congress to ratify or reject.
Resultantly, the Premiership teams who are in the drop zone will have to continue with the survival bid on the Matchday 34 Super Sunday fixtures across the country scheduled for this weekend.
A statement from ZIFA, which will be largely welcomed by all well-meaning football stakeholders, put paid to the diabolical PSL move, which was as ill-advised as it was rushed.
“The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) wishes to advise the football community, stakeholders, media partners and the nation regarding the promotion and relegation framework for the 2025 Castle Premier Soccer League (PSL) season.
“ZIFA has taken note of communication from the Premier Soccer League dated 18 November 2025, indicating a resolution from its Extraordinary General Meeting proposing that no teams be relegated at the end of the current season and that the league’s membership be expanded to 22 clubs,’’ ZIFA said.
“The Association wishes to make it unequivocally clear that this proposal cannot be implemented.
“Promotion and relegation are fundamental components of football competition and are essential to maintaining the integrity, fairness and sporting merit of the league system.
“ZIFA therefore confirms that four (4) clubs will be relegated at the conclusion of the 2025 Castle Premier Soccer League season, which officially ends on 23 November 2025.
“Should the Premier Soccer League or any other member wish to propose an adjustment to the number of participating teams, or propose any other resolution, such a request must be formally submitted to the Association.
“In accordance with ZIFA statutes, the proposal will then be tabled for consideration at the next ZIFA Congress,’’ added ZIFA.
PSL’s abandon strategic plan for ridiculous move PSL governors who had initially gathered for a vital strategic planning workshop had shocked the world when coming up with a comical move that had reduced the country’s elite league into a circus, not worthy of any respect.
The club chiefs had also effectively poured cold water on all the excitement that has been building up ahead of what should be a massive Super Sunday in the relegation matrix.
While ZIFA had asked all affiliates including the PSL and other stakeholders to consult and deliberate on the possibility of expanding the Acting on ZIFA’s proposed 20-team league and a National First Division, the mother body were clear that the consultative process was not a directive or resolution.
Yet a hastily convened PSL extraordinary meeting reached one of the most shocking resolutions in the history of the local game.
The governors unanimously yet controversially voted against relegating any teams in the current term whose curtain comes down this Sunday.
That should have meant Kwekwe United, who have just one win in 33 matches and accumulated 10 points would have been saved.
Kwekwe who found life difficult in the Premiership from Day One were the first team to be demoted two months ago, breaking all kinds of records for the wrong reasons.
Had ZIFA allowed the poorly conceived PSL resolution to go through, it would have also taken the gloss off Scotland’s coronation as 2025 champions on Saturday.
This is because the Mabvuku side would have been celebrating a championship in a league where the competition rules are not adhered to.
Now after ZIFA stepped in to reign in on the errant PSL governors, it means Bikita Minerals, Triangle, GreenFuel Dynamos, Highlanders, Chicken Inn, Manica Diamonds and Yadah who would have survived the chop without earning it, will have to be at their best on Sunday.
The ZIFA proposal
Earlier this month, ZIFA initiated a broad stakeholder consultation process aimed at modernising the game’s national structures.
In her correspondence to stakeholders, ZIFA General Secretary Yvone Manwa insisted the process was only still at a consultative stage and that it among other things looked at the possibility of expanding the PSL from the current 18 to a 20-team top-flight.
The consultations also included exploring the re-aligning of the domestic season from February-November to August-May, which tallies with the bulk of the FIFA calendar with the agenda being “to strengthen competitiveness, inclusivity, and professionalism across all tiers of the game, while ensuring that every change reflects stakeholder consensus and long-term sustainability.”
Manwa added that proposals would only come into being after massive consultations with key stakeholders who also include the country’s sport regulatory body, the Sports and Recreation Commission.
“We are opening a conversation about the future of our game,” Manwa said.
“The time has come to look at our structures and ask how best we can position Zimbabwean football to meet global standards and serve our national aspirations.”
While giving some insight into some of the key proposals under consideration, Manwa said they would only start in 2026 if a full buy-in had been secured.
Backlash over PSL move
Yet for jumping the gun PSL immediately received a huge backlash from fans, media, fellow ZIFA affiliates and the global football family.
This is because their bid would have meant such people like Zambian gaffer Kelvin Kaindu who has worked hard to try and pull Dynamos out of the precipice, would have been nullified as a mere joke.
While ZIFA had considered a 20-team league, the PSL yesterday had wanted to have 22 teams with immediate effect, which meant players would have been required to play 42 league matches.
That would have meant the season should have started as early as January, given there would be international breaks and other cup tournaments to play.
But the circus also meant the very governors who are supposed to guide the football statutes in the country breached those provisions beyond any measure just to safeguard their teams’ PSL status.
Basically the 2025 season would have been reduced into a boozers undertaking where teams play and win but with no losers at the other end.
In their own island where rules aren’t respected even if you are their maker, the PSL had said, “The PSL resolved to suspend relegation for the 2025 season.
“The League will accommodate the newly promoted teams, resulting in an expanded league of 22-teams for a transitional period during the 2026 season,’’ the PSL said in a statement.
“After the conclusion of the 2026 season, the League will revert to the proposed twenty-team format beginning in the 2027 season.”
However, sanity prevailed and the status quo will remain.
