Online Reporter
Mugove Chigada
Deputy Sports Editor
BY end of season, ZPC Kariba can easily wave goodbye to the Castle Lager Premier Soccer league depending on how they perform in the last 10 games.
But that they are currently 8th on the 18-team log with 31 points, tells a much deeper story.
And if the situation is that bad for ZPC, teams below will equally face the brutal nature of this league.
These include, Highlanders on 29 points, CAPS United on 28, Bikita Minerals 28, GreenFuel 27, Chicken Inn 26, Manica Diamonds 26, Triangle 25, Yadah on 25 and Dynamos on 19 points.
Forget the Dynamos crisis!
The real issues are also on losing corporate-backed clubs like Bikita, GreenFuel, Chicken Inn, Manica Diamonds and Triangle from a league desperately in need of stability.
For the record, only seven teams in the PSL this year avoided relegation since 2017.
These are FC Platinum, Dynamos, Ngezi Platinum, Chicken Inn, CAPS United, Highlanders and Yadah. Triangle and ZPC Kariba were relegated at one point and bounced back.
While competitiveness is part and parcel of any great league, there are growing calls for PSL to revisit the number of teams going down at the end of every season, as a matter of urgency.
“You must not only look at it from the point of reduced relegated teams, but the issue of maintaining a board of governors intact for longer helps the league in many ways . . . A situation whereby a chairman (a governor) is shown the door before even the strategic plan for the league has been completed, yet he voted for the incoming leadership, is not the way to go,” said business executive Vincent Chawonza.
To put things into perspective, out of the 10 votes that new chairman Isaiah Mupfurutsa got at his recent elections, he could be counting just five of six of those clubs left by 2027.
Chawonza said the PSL must look for a short-term solution for stability while waiting for Zimbabwe Football Association plans for one national division one league.
That a total of 20 teams have been relegated from PSL in five seasons — since 2017 when the league increased teams to 18 — summarises PSL dilemma.
Of the 20 relegated, Hwange went down three times during the same period, Harare City twice and Bulawayo City twice.
The other teams to have gone down the drain include Tsholotsho, Bantu Rovers, Nichrut, Bulawayo City, Mutare City, Shabanie Mine, Chapungu, TelOne, Mushowani, Tenax, Whawha, Black Rhinos, Triangle, Sheasham, Cranborne, Bulawayo Chiefs, Hwange, Chegutu and Arenel.
Among those 20, only TelOne and Triangle are back in the thick of things.
“My suggestion, if possible, will be for the PSL to drop only two teams and increase the teams to 20 for the 2026 season. This is purely for their own benefit as a league. Four teams out of 18 is just too big a percentage,” said Chawonza.
“In fact, let’s look around in the region, in the world. What percentage gets relegated? That way you realise what is sustainable and what is not. Can you imagine that some of the teams being relegated are the clubs that are backed by corporates?
“My bigger issues though are to do with policy. The new leadership elected must be given a chance to work with more governors that gave them the mandate. You don’t want a board losing too many members after short periods.
“The situation is not made any better by the fact that clubs also constantly change chairpersons who are governors in the PSL board. So, the relegation, and the club changes means the league is affected policy-wise in a very big way. So clubs must be forced to align with PSL terms when making appointments or holding their own elections.”
The national first division league plans will ultimately provide a long term solution.
But for now, the 18 teams fight for survival based on a policy set by some governors long gone, the brutal guidelines that deprived Zvishavane of its on derby and took Hwange through the furnace.
PSL will look back at one stage and realise that up to 120 players demoted to division one football every season was real carnage, and that it did not only destabilise the league, but families too.
Dropping 4 or 6 or 8 clubs to the regions at the end of the season is not the problem, it is how they drop. Before the season started, we had foreseen a possibility of the three big teams dropping, and we also thought the incoming administrations in both the PSL and ZIFA were fully aware of it. But unfortunately, even those who are fully in football administration may not necessarily understand the landscape or the changes that are happening in football. Even as a soccer player, a high degree of anticipation is required, and is a highly expected attribute in professional players. The Zimbabwean political and business landscape is unique, and unfortunately it does affect the running of football in this country. What works in those two environments does not necessarily work in football. A league of individually owned teams may spell disaster for Zimbabwean football. The lack of fluidity in both business and politics also affects teams. Nokudaro, tinenge tisingapenge kana tichimhanyira kuda kuponesa mateams that are like community based. Therefore, we need to look at the way that we relegate teams from the PSL in light of the ever increasing competition in the regions. Current investors in both PSL and the regions should have something to look forward to and be happy about the situation that prevails. Trying to balance zvinhu izvi now, will not be easy for these guys, that is why a plan was needed when football was in a flux at the beginning of the year. Certain things needed to be done which were not done. Vanhu vose vaida maposition and they thought it was business as usual. For these guys who are trying to project a squeaky clean image to the world, it is now going to be difficult, I do not think they may have the courage to make the changes now. Ndosaka vanhu vakabatira ura mumaoko. Saka in the end tichangochema. My suggestions that the teams be increased to twenty two in the next season, that they follow the FIFA calendar; that there be an investment in playing surfaces for all weather football; that relegation be premised upon worthiness; that the top team in each region be automatically promoted; that the bottom four teams in PSL fight to maintain their PSL status by being drawn against the teams finishing third in the four regions, and the 4 winners of that round meet the 4 second placed teams to determine who qualifies for PSL; that the next season starts at the normal time and finish in the rain season of 2027; That they fully take advantage of the dry periods of the 2027 to 2028 season; that there be not more than one cup competition, and that competition carry a minimum USD$5mil in sponsorship. Alternatively, Government and/or Corporates can join hands in sponsoring one competition known as the ZIFA cup.