Zimpapers Logo

TWINE PHIRI

Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
THE Premier Soccer League has acquired the Eastlea, Harare offices it has been renting for close to a decade. This was disclosed yesterday by PSL boss Twine Phiri in an interview from Johannesburg where he is on business.

“We’ve as the league acquired a property in Harare’s Eastlea suburb. These will be the permanent headquarters of the Premier Soccer League and will go a long way in ensuring that we make savings.

“We’ll no longer be renting where we were spending a fortune. We can proudly say we now have a home for the PSL,” said Phiri.

He could not disclose the amount of money that exchanged hands saying client confidentiality was important.

Phiri said: “It wouldn’t be fair on the other part for us to disclose how much was involved. Both parties are happy with the figure.”

He said they had noted over the years that they were spending a lot of money renting the property.

“I’m happy about the legacy setting aspect but it remains for us as PSL to work even harder to achieve a lot to make our clubs a better lot than they’re at the moment,” said Phiri.

Hopefully in years to come the PSL will be in a position to declare a dividend when business has been good and give to affiliates as seed money.

Under Phiri and chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele, the Premiership has become a favourite of sponsors because of high levels of corporate governance.

Phiri conceded that the economic environment was making life difficult for the league and clubs. He however remained positive that the PSL would continue to attract partnerships to make it worthwhile for the clubs to stay afloat.

“It’s not been easy for us under the circumstances. We’re grateful to sponsors that have stuck around with us and those that we’ve worked with. We want to keep the PSL brand going by giving value to all our partners,” said Phiri ahead of the PSL annual general meeting set for this weekend.

Phiri said he had noticed over the years that clubs were working hard to turn professional.

“There’s been a lot done to make our clubs more professional in their operations. Obviously sponsorship is an inhibiting factor but they’ve done considerably well against the odds to follow the club licensing expectations,” he said.

He said the weekend annual general meeting would follow the standard agenda. He said clubs would be briefed on sponsorship that they have retained or managed to lure to their division.

NetOne, Chibuku Super and Castle Lager are expected to stay on board while Mbada Diamonds could go separate ways after facing operational challenges in recent months.

Phiri said everything about sponsorships would be unveiled to members.