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Innocent Kurira, [email protected]

THE Warriors host Lesotho in a World Cup Qualifier in June but with no Confederation of African Football (Caf) certified stadium locally, the match is likely to be played in a country yet to be named.

Zimbabwe played their last home World Cup qualifier against Nigeria in Rwanda late last year.

In January, Caf condemned the National Sports Stadium and Rufaro as unsuitable to stage international football matches.

Although renovations are being done at both stadia, Zifa Normalisation Committee (NC) chairperson Lincoln Mutasa said they are already considering Plan B, which is having the match outside the borders.

“We have to confirm with Caf which stadium we will be using for the World Cup Qualifier. We were hopeful we would host the game here in Zimbabwe but now we are not so sure because of the time scale that we have. The end of this month is only a week away and I don’t think there will be much progress at Rufaro and the National Sports Stadium.

“There may be progress but I don’t think we will have enough time to have Caf inspectors come and have a look at those stadiums. I think we have to look at Plan B which is to try and engage our neighbours and see if we can find a suitable location,” said Mutasa.

He said it is unfortunate their hands are tied when it comes to the sprucing and upgrading of stadiums.

“We have a situation where the owners of our stadiums are the councils. We as an association can only come in to try and make arrangements to have the council lease stadia out. As the situation is right now, you can understand council may have 101 needs for whatever revenue they generate from the stadiums but there is no guarantee that the money will be ploughed back into the stadium,” said Mutasa.

Mutasa was speaking on the sidelines of the Normalisation Committee’s nationwide consultative tour to tackle issues crippling local football.

The tour started in Mutare this past week and now the committee is in the country’s second largest city.

Present at the meeting was Lincoln Mutasa and his NC committee, which includes lawyer Nyasha Sanyamandwe, ex-Mighty Warriors coach Rosemary Mugadza and former Highlanders player Sikhumbuzo Ndebele.

The NC is touring the country, engaging with stakeholders at all levels of the football pyramid on a number of key issues affecting the beautiful game in Zimbabwe.

The meetings are expected to spread to all the other parts of the country.

The last Caf inspection report concluded that several areas at both Rufaro and NSS require a total renovation in accordance with the Caf requirements, overall indicating that the stadiums must be totally revamped and redesigned from the ground up to fit the modern football stadium requirements and standards.

Areas such as the field of play, stands and spectator facilities, competition areas, media and medical facilities are just some of the main highlighted issues.

Additionally, the functionality, design, comfort and quality of equipment in the stadiums are presently of great concern.

The present standard of the refurbishment work on Rufaro  was described as “not” fully in line with the Caf stadium requirements.
On this basis, several structural errors and deficiencies could be identified during the inspection visit, which could have been avoided if Caf had been consulted from the initial stages of the project.

The continental body also recommended the closure of the stadiums for major renovations, while ensuring the hiring of experienced companies with a proven track record in the construction and renovation of modern football stadiums.

In particular, the general refurbishment plan in the stadium should be based on modern architecture, contemporary design and high-quality materials with a clear project plan and specific timelines.