Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and wife Barbara arrived in Victoria Falls yesterday where he said he will be engaging with local leadership on possible areas of cooperation in sport.
Ceferin landed at the Victoria Falls International Airport just after midday with a delegation of 20 people comprising mostly family members including his three daughters Nina (26), Neza (17) and Ana (14).
The Slovenian lawyer-cum-businessman was welcomed by Cosafa president Phillip Chiyangwa who was with them throughout the day as they toured the falls.
Dubbed Europe’s most powerful man in football, Ceferin is on a private visit for a holiday with his family but said that would not stop him from engaging Cosafa for possible areas of cooperation.
“As you have heard, I am on a private visit here in Zimbabwe where I have never been before. I will speak about football in Zimbabwe and Cosafa,” he said in an interview soon after arrival at the airport.
During his 12-day visit, he is expected to visit some of the country’s magnificent resort areas in Binga, Hwange National Park, Matopos National Park, Great Zimbabwe and Vumba Mountains.
Speaking during a tour of the Rainforest later in the day, Ceferin said he was keen to explore areas of cooperation towards development of sports tourism.
“Every town like this is also focused on sports tourism. If in addition you have this what else do you need,” he said referring to the falls.
He said the country’s prime resort town could attract international clubs for camping if there was investment in infrastructure.
“I don’t know about infrastructure here as I haven’t seen around but we will talk with Philip. We just met a few hours ago and we will speak about everything.”
He could not hide his excitement seeing the mighty falls saying: “This is fantastic and very hot which is what we want in Europe. I see some water, I see a lot of water,” he said.
In the rainforest, he and his family posed for photos and at some point he and Chiyangwa posed underneath the big Strangler fig tree pretending to be balancing it with their hands.
He and his family chose to drive themselves as opposed to being chauffer driven the way other tourists and VIPs are driven around.
Ceferin has been to Namibia, Botswana, Tunisia and Tanzania, among other African countries.
Chiyangwa said Zimbabwe and the Cosafa region were set to benefit from the visit.
“There are already discussions underway in which the president and I will discuss all the possible opportunities available in Zimbabwe even outside sport because he also comes from a business family.
“He might be discussing mining or agriculture. This is the most powerful man in Europe by the way so we are going to be talking tonight and tomorrow we will tell you more of what we would have talked about,”he said.
Ceferin became the Uefa boss in September 2016. He was voted sports personality of the year in the same year by Slovenian sports newspaper Ekipa SN, in a poll of newspaper journalists and readers.
In January 2019, SportsPro Media included Ceferin in the list of the most influential people in the sports industry. The UEFA president was also selected as one of the people of 2018 by the influential World Soccer magazine.
The family becomes the second-high profile set of international celebrities to visit the country and Victoria Falls this festive season following a visit by Hollywood stars Michael Douglas, wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and children Dylan and Carys.
South African television presenter and socialite Maps Mamponyane is also another celebrity that was in Victoria Falls recently.
Online Reporter