Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE 2019 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season will spill over into 2020, with Zifa saying it’s moving to align the local season with the Fifa calendar.
The PSL moved a motion to align the local season with Europe, which starts in August and ends in May, at the last Zifa congress held on December 16, 2018.
However, Zifa councillors expressed reservations arguing that the country wasn’t ready for such a change yet.
Zifa president, Felton Kamambo said the subject of aligning the local season to the rest of the world is a “foregone matter” and they are working on introducing knockout tournaments that will cushion teams during this transition period.
Kamambo said they are on the brink of finalising sponsorship for the return of the Zifa Cup, which was last held in 2005.
The Zifa Cup caters for all leagues, which include area zones, provincial leagues, First Division and the PSL.
“We are switching our season, aligning it with the Fifa and Caf calendar dates. The issue of aligning our season is a foregone matter, not subject to any discussion, as the assembly approved that and what is only left is for a starting period,” said Kamambo.
“The current season will over flow into 2020 and we intend to have a Zifa Cup that will cover the switch over period. We have a prospective sponsor for the Zifa Cup; hopefully in a month or so we will be announcing that sponsor and when the Zifa Cup will kick-off,” he said.
After a board meeting held on December 21, 2018, Kamambo said the congress resolution to temporarily set aside aligning the PSL season to Fifa calendar dates stands.
“The Zifa annual general meeting held on the 16th of December 2018 resolved that the 2019 PSL football season will kick off in March 2019 as per current league format. The Zifa congress further resolved that the Premier Soccer League (PSL) will engage stakeholders on the proposal to shift the kick-off dates to August as recommended by Caf.
“In pursuant to the above, at our first executive committee meeting on the 21st of December 2018, PSL was therefore directed to come up with a roadmap on their stakeholder engagement process on the proposed shift with a view to implementing the proposal in 2020.
“It is our view that the proposal will be deliberated on at our 2019 annual general meeting to afford members ample time to plan well ahead,” Kamambo said in a statement.
Besides the Zifa Cup, finding sponsorship for the development leagues, the four regional First Division leagues and the lower leagues, are some of the things being considered in aligning the season with the international calendar.
The football leadership has to engage local authorities that own most facilities to renovate stadia so that they can host matches during the rainy season.
Zimbabwe once experimented with the August-May calendar in the 1990s and the results were depressing, as most of the venues had poor drainage systems resulting in most matches being postponed due to waterlogged pitches during the rainy season.
PSL chairman Farai Jere said the process of engaging local authorities had started.
“Our desire is for football to spread across the country and it hurts to see teams like Mushowani Stars not enjoying home advantage yet they have supporters from their area. We’re not saying let’s lower the standards associated with approving of facilities, but we want to work together with local authorities so that they attend to stadium issues,” said Jere.
“If you look at it, these local authorities are collecting revenue from teams using the facilities and we understand the economic situation, but they have to work on stadiums.As you are aware, the season will be aligned with the rest of the world and there are huge costs like working on drainage of stadiums that will be used during the rainy season,” he said.
– @ZililoR
Online Reporter