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Ronald Mashinga, Sports Reporter

MATABELELAND football team have started preparations for the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA) World Football Cup 2020 at North Macedonia from May 30 to 7 June 2020.

The football club is playing their second ConIFA World Football Cup in a row after finishing 13th in 2018. Hungarian team Kárpátalja won the tournament beating Northern Cyprus on penalties 3-2.

Matabeleland football team president Busani Sibindi said they are planning preparatory matches with clubs such as Highlanders, Bulawayo Chiefs and South Africa’s Orlando Pirates ahead of the tournament.

“It is always a great joy to see initiatives from seed to growth. The Matabeleland soccer project has over the few years grown and matured, providing a great platform for young men and women to learn critical life skills and develop the necessary stamina to tackle life, at the same time celebrating it,” he said.

The club was established in 2016 alongside Queen Lozikeyi Academy and seeks to promote development and human rights through soccer.

ConIFA is the international governing body for association football teams that are unaffiliated to FIFA and it has 59 members. This will be the fourth edition of the tournament.

The ConIFA World Cup is the successor of the Viva World Cup, a competition for teams not affiliated with FIFA, which was held five times between 2006 and 2012.