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Grace Chingoma-Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA, working in conjunction with the Government, are set to unveil a fund-raising committee, to pool resources together, for the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The team will also be tasked with raising funds to bankroll the Warriors’ 2021 AFCON finals campaign.
Felton Kamambo, the ZIFA president, believes the Warriors have a golden chance to make a big impression, at the next Nations Cup finals.
He also feels they have the pedigree to qualify for the World Cup finals, for the first time, in the country’s history.
However, Kamambo said ZIFA cannot foot all the costs, needed to ensure the team gets the best preparations, for the two tournaments.
Ghana’s Black Stars, one of the opponents the Warriors will play in the World Cup qualifiers, have set the tone.
The Ghanaian Government this week pledged US$10 million towards the Black Stars and asked the private sector to raise another US$15 million.
The funds pledged by the government will also be used to help all the national teams, including the women’s national side, and all national age-group teams.
The West African country have challenged the Black Stars to win the AFCON finals, for the first time since 1982, and reach the World Cup semi-finals.
According to Ghanaian media, a committee comprising Ghana Football Association chairman Kurt Okraku, former skipper Sammy Kuffour, Bobie Evans Opoku and Sport Minister Mustapha Ussif, has been put in place, to raise part of the funds.
Kamambo said they have finished their budgets but will only reveal them once the fund-raising committee has been unveiled.
“Plans are already underway to set up a fresh fund-raising committee, which we cannot pre-empt, at the moment,” he said.
“At the moment, we have a budget for the national team.
“In fact, at the beginning of every year, we have a budget of every match.
“But, it has changed a bit because, firstly, we have qualified for AFCON and we have World Cup qualifiers, where we believe, we have a realistic chance to qualify.
“So, we must do something, which will motivate players, in terms of our planning.
“We will announce in the next seven days, there is a lot happening in the background.
“Before the last AFCON finals, we had a committee, specifically for that task, so whether we retain some people from that committee, or we will get new people, we are going to have a new committee with a fresh mandate.”
In 2019, an 18-member fund-raising team, was unveiled by President Mnangagwa, and raised substantial funds, for the national team’s adventure, in Egypt.
Some of the members of the committee included business executives, Eve Gadzikwa and Kuda Tagwirei.
“AFCON is no longer about qualifying but doing better and surpassing the previous record,” said Kamambo.
“World Cup, we want to qualify, we know we have to finish first, in our group, so we have to prepare adequately, to achieve that, and funds are needed for all that.
“The last Africa Cup of Nations, for us, was a learning curve and we don’t have to repeat some of the mistakes we made, or the challenges we encountered.
“So, we are planning in terms of everything.
“I urge stakeholders to come together and support the Warriors. I feel this is the time we can do better at the AFCON while we can also qualify for Qatar and, if we are united, we can achieve something.”
The ZIFA president said they will also reward all the players, who were involved in the AFCON campaign, once the committee starts operating. Kamambo said they were also looking for a strong team to play, in a friendly, before the Warriors start their World Cup qualifiers, against Bafana Bafana, in June.
“We are looking at strong opposition to play before we meet South Africa. Three teams have indicated they are interested,” he said.
“We are still looking at the logistics and the funding part of it.”
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