Online Reporter
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
THE 2025 Castle Lager Premiership season has come and gone, leaving the Eastern Region with fewer teams than it had for the upcoming 2026 top-flight league season after GreenFuel FC, Yadah and Bikita Minerals FC were relegated to Division One.
GreenFuel’s three-year flirtation with the top-flight league came to an end after they settled for a one-all stalemate with survivors, Triangle United FC at the GreenFuel Arena on the final day of the 2025 season last Sunday.
The Ethanol Boys, also colloquially referred to as Boys DzeNharo in football circles, survived relegation at the end of the 2024 season on the final day, but this time around, Lady Luck did not smile at them once more.
Nevertheless, the club—born as a people’s project and gifted to the community by Billy Rautenbach—made history by bringing the nation’s top-flight league to the long-marginalised Chipinge District for the very first time since independence.
For that reason, its chairman, Fred Moyo, declares that it will not die, only because of being relegated to Division One.
If anything, Moyo strongly believes they have learnt from their mistakes, and will fight their way back to the Premiership as soon as possible.
Moyo said: “We take this moment to reflect, restructure, and strategically prepare for a strong comeback. I assure you that plans are already underway to rebuild and ensure that GreenFuel FC returns with pride, more competitive and determined than ever.”
The final whistle at GreenFuel Arena in Chisumbanje was more than a sound, it was a wave of relief for Triangle United fans, while despair swept through the home side.
In a match focused on survival rather than flair, the Sugar Sugar Boys earned the result they needed.
Coming from behind, they secured a draw that condemned GreenFuel FC, who required a win to stay in the top-flight.
The result was even more painful for coach, Rodwell Dhlakama, who agonisingly watched a team he is in charge of, being demoted to the less fashionable world of Division One, for the second time on the trot after he also presided over similar demotion of Hwange FC the previous season.
But Moyo reckons the lessons learnt are more important than anything else at this stage.
Moyo said: “No doubt we have learnt our lessons, and we will surely become a much better team when we come back to the Premiership. There are areas where we just have to make amends, and we are grateful to our sponsor – GreenFuel (Pvt) Ltd – for affording us this opportunity to learn and better ourselves in the highly competitive game of football.”
