Zimpapers Logo

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter

LOWER tier football leagues’ quest to restart games hit a temporary snag after Zifa notified its affiliates that only the Premier Soccer League (PSL) has been granted permission to hold competitions.

Zifa’s four regions, Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern, met in Masvingo at the beginning of the month and resolved to restart Division One league matches at the end of October.

They also pushed for regional administrators to submit vaccination registers of all their staff and players between September 6-17.

Correspondence to clubs from their regions was that pre-season for registered and affiliated clubs would start training from September 20 to October 22.

They had proposed that player registration deadline close on October 22, with inspection of venues starting between September 20 and October 22 and league season kicking off on October 29 up to the end of May next year.

However, in its latest memo, Zifa said it had lobbied for action to resume in lower leagues on condition that players and officials are vaccinated.

“The Zimbabwe Football Association would like to inform all lower leagues that their resumption of football competitions has not been authorised. Only Premier Soccer League competitions have been authorised so far,” read the memo.

“We remind lower leagues to provide detailed written submissions regarding their preparedness and plans thereof to guarantee and allow for safe resumption of football. Your submissions should include a list of teams, vaccinated players and officials and proposed venues to be used.

“On our part, the Zifa board had a fruitful meeting with the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, Hon Kirsty Coventry regarding resumption of football for lower leagues. We have requested that the Government approves resumption on the condition that clubs in lower leagues vaccinate their players and officials before being allowed to resume.”

The memo comes after Zifa had asked affiliates to provide supporting documents on their state of preparedness for resumption of games by September 10.

Some affiliates are yet to submit the required documents, delaying the process of applying for a restart. — @ZililoR