Chronicle Editor
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Premier Soccer League is making plans for the return of domestic football this year, with a proposed competition for the restart.
A document prepared by the PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele details plans for the return of action on the local front. Domestic football has been on hold since March last year when the country went into lockdown as part of measures to control the spread of Covid-19.
Since the PSL has 18 clubs dotted around the country, to restart football, the league wants a competition to be introduced where intercity or inter provincial travelling is minimised for the purpose of reducing the spread of Covid-19. Under the plan, teams will be placed into four based in Harare, Mutare/Mhondoro Ngezi, Bulawayo and Zvishavane.
The teams shall play a round robin competition over a period of four to five weeks where winners of the respective groups will proceed to the semi-finals. Winners will meet in the final match to be staged at the venue to be agreed with the sponsors and all the matches shall be played behind closed doors.
In November last year, the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation allowed football clubs in the country to resume group training. The Zimbabwe Football Association went on to provide equipment and materials to conduct Covid-19 testing. Resumption of football competitions was also cleared under a bubble concept where teams will go into camp and play matches under strict guidelines.
That however, failed to take place due to lack of funding with teams just training at their home grounds until they took a break for festive season. It was concluded that the bio-bubble concept is expensive and unaffordable.
It was envisaged that football would resume in January but the SRC banned all sporting activity last month when the country went into lockdown. The SRC is only handling approval for resumption on a case by case basis.
It is however, expected that when the lockdown regulations are eased, football will be allowed to resume if proper guidelines are in place.
Under the plans for resumption, the PSL wants clubs to resubmit relevant documents for player registration before 31 March, with Zifa expected to issue a clean policy on the 2020 contracts and loan agreements while players will be issued with licenses to participate in all football matches and this should be accompanied by a vaccination certificate.
“All the 18 PSL Clubs will be required to pay the annual subscription fee in the sum of USD $2500 (two thousand five hundred United States Dollars) each before 28 February 2021,’’ reads the document.
PSL plan to request US$100 000 from part of Fifa’s Covid-19 relief funds sent to Zifa to pay staff salaries, rentals, stadium inspections, television production costs and other administrative costs. Furthermore, the PSL is planning to get into talks with Delta Beverages to sponsor the competition.
“The League will engage Delta beverages to sponsor the competition. The package is expected to cover prize money, administration fee and fuel costs. The league will also engage Fidelity Life Assurance to cover players and technical officials for the 2021 Football Season,’’ the document reads.
PSL are proposing that if any member of the league withdraws its membership or disbands its team, the board must not replace the said club. Further, such a club(s) shall not be allowed to return to the PSL unless they are promoted to the League on sporting merit. Clubs shall be responsible for the upkeep and camping of their football club during the competition.
With the World Health Organisation and Governments across the world recommending vaccination as a solution to Covid-19, the PSL is planning to seek clearance from the Ministry of Health and Child Care to import recommended vaccines of all the players and officials with the process of vaccination to be carried out by the PSL medical committee doctors. — @Mdawini_29
Online Reporter