Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo-Zimpapers Sports Hub
FOLLOWING a period of waiting, the highly-anticipated ZIFA Munhumutapa Cup, the country’s biggest football knock-out tournament is expected to be unveiled today with President Mnangagwa set to launch the lucrative competition.
Unlike most of the competitions, which are league-based, the Munhumutapa Cup is an all-encompassing tournament which will be competed for by men and women and boys and girls in the true spirit of “leaving no-one and no place behind”.
The competition, reportedly worth a staggering US$25 million spread over five years, with US$5 million being poured in each season, will also guarantee its senior men’s winners a ticket to represent Zimbabwe in the CAF Confederation Cup.
The mother of all football contests, which underscores the transformation that ZIFA are undergoing under a new leadership, isn’t just better, but is widely regarded to be bigger if not among the biggest football knock-out competitions in Southern Africa in terms of both scope and financial investment.
The competition will not only involve the elite Premiership clubs and lower Division teams, but will also see Area Zones and organised social sides participating.
Junior teams will also have their share of the competition, with the finer modalities of the tournament set to be unpacked at today’s event. The gesture by President Mnangagwa to bankroll the tournament also reaffirms how much he loves the country’s biggest game and national sport in general.
President Mnangagwa also recently ensured the Warriors were motivated when he donated, from his own pocket, US$400 000 to their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations’ cause for the continental football jamboree held in Morocco.
He has also rewarded national cricket and rugby teams for their excellence.
But there is no doubting that the ZIFA Munhumutapa Challenge Cup is the biggest of them all, touching lives across both genders from the grassroots to the elite level.
The Munhumutapa tournament will also see Five-A-Side and Beach Soccer Clubs competing in a competition of this magnitude for the very first time.
Over 300 senior men’s and women’s, at least 40 grassroots and over 160 Futsal and Beach Soccer teams are being earmarked to take part in the massive jamboree across the entire nation.
The US$25 million sponsorship package is an upgrade from the initial US$15 million which sources at ZIFA had initially hinted at.
The men’s tournament will see teams from Area Zones up to the Premier Soccer League battling it out for honours which will also come with a ticket to represent the country in the CAF Confederation Cup while the women’s Division One sides up to the Zimbabwe Women’s Premier Soccer League clubs will also be involved.
Nqobile Magwizi’s ZIFA have been on a charm offensive to secure Government and private sector partnerships in their quest to turn football into the flagship sport that it is in this country and also transform the association.
ZIFA have since managed to secure financial backing from financial institution BancABC who are now sponsoring the Grassroots Impact Project, which will see all of the 10 provinces across the country having Under-14 and Under-16 boys’ and girls’ teams each taking part in what will be a league-format for the categories.
The move is aimed at ensuring that children get a chance to play football throughout the year and widen the pool for scouts to fish for talent.
The coming of the biggest tournament in the country was one of the key pillars in Magwizi’s manifesto when he was campaigning for the post before landing it on January 25, last year.
It was ZIFA’s initial plan to splash US$1,8 million towards the senior men’s competition with US$400 000 committed to the women’s section when the annual package was then pegged at US$3 million.
But with the total package having been upgraded, clubs, provinces, leagues and Area Zones will be eagerly awaiting the launch.
“The Zimbabwean football landscape will never be the same again with the coming in of the ZIFA Munhumutapa Cup.
“It will be sponsored by President Mnangagwa and its sheer size will change the trajectory completely.
“Over 500 teams right from the grassroots, beach soccer and futsal to the men’s and women’s Premiership will take part in this tournament,” said ZIFA in a statement.
“All stakeholders have been informed and they are fully aware of how ZIFA will roll out the tournament at every level.
“This shows the commitment by ZIFA to go back to basics and start developing the game from its roots going up,’’ ZIFA sources said.
The development has also charmed the game’s analysts who have been following the ZIFA revolution.
“This development reaffirms how the new ZIFA executive have managed to drastically turn around the chequered image of the association, which, all along, was a playground of heightened controversy.
“Apart from earning the confidence of the first citizen, President Mnangagwa, corporates are now falling over each other as they come forward to partner with the attractive brand that ZIFA has become,’’ football analysts noted.
