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Senior Sports Reporter
FOOTBALL governing body Zifa faces a possible funding crisis after the government appeared to scoff at the association’s request for money for two national teams’ home assignments this weekend.

The Mighty Warriors are involved in a crucial Olympic Games qualifier against Cameroon at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday in which a 1-0 win will see the Shadreck Mlauzi-coached girls making a historic qualification.

On the same day, their male counterparts will be taking on Lesotho in the first leg of the African Nations Championships at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo.

Zifa, whose entire board was booted out of office by the association’s councillors at an extraordinary general meeting held on October 3, wrote to the government seeking $120,000, which chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze said was needed to cater for the two matches.

However, Sport and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane last Friday painted a gloomy picture for the association while in Bulawayo for the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games legacy project meeting. “Zifa are the ones who should be funding their own programmes. Let me from the onset correct the notion that government should be funding Zifa programmes; yes we can assist here and there, but it mustn’t be taken for granted,” said Hlongwane.

“Right now the corporate world is shunning Zifa because it’s not properly run. Why should the government pour money into a bottomless pit? The government shouldn’t be expected to put money into a hole”.

He reiterated Fifa’s advice to Zifa that Zimbabwe should not always participate in all tournaments, especially if it has no adequate funding. “If you stay away from the start, you will not be penalised, but once you get in, you can’t then say you’re pulling out because that attracts heavy sanctions from the football authorities. Zifa must streamline its participation because it has no capacity,” said Minister Hlongwane.