PSL START DATE FIXED

Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
ONLY one tournament has been confirmed so far ahead of the start of the 2015 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season.
The first event on the calendar is set for March 7 and this was confirmed by the league’s chief executive officer, Kennedy Ndebele.There are doubts on the hosting of the Mbada Diamonds Cup after it was postponed last season to this month. Ndebele however, said negotiations were still going on.

“We want to start early so that by November 30 we should have concluded the season so that we register our champions for the Caf Champions League. The start day is also subject to change depending on tournaments but so far only Chibuku Super Cup has been confirmed,” he said.

Ndebele said unlike last season, the league would this year avoid haphazard changing of fixtures that at times brought them at loggerheads with their broadcaster.

“There’s need to consider that we’re sharing a single channel with Zambia and therefore last minute fixture changes must be a thing of the past. We also want to make sure all our sponsors get their undivided attention so this means we’ve one tournament at a time,” said Ndebele.

The chief executive officer said attention would also be on the ticketing system where the league hopes to have an improved system to avoid problems at turnstiles.

Ndebele hinted at the possibility of having matches under floodlights, especially midweek games. He said they will take advantage of the good floodlights at Barbourfields and Luveve Stadiums which  were renovated in preparation for the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games.

“The National Sports Stadium is another venue with good floodlights and depending on the negotiations with the City of Harare, Rufaro Stadium can also play host to night games,” said Ndebele.

Fixtures will be released after the annual general meeting whose date has not yet been set.