The Sunday News
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Women Football clubs have challenged Zifa to address the issue of sponsorship first before they talk about a 16-team national league. Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa last week announced that he will assemble a 16-team league whose club leaders will form a board of governors that will in turn elect a substantive management committee, as is the case with the Premier Soccer League.
While welcoming the move to bring sanity to the league, club officials said sponsorship was women football’s Achilles heel since their game was still at developmental stage without any gate takings to talk about. Zifa had ordered several of its affiliates, including women football, to hold elections to elect new representatives.
The disagreements over the formation of a league led to a split in the ZWF executive last year as some teams were for the national league while others felt there should be two regional leagues citing limitations.
An official with a team in Bulawayo, who declined to be named, said while they wanted a semblance of order in the league it was imperative to have sponsorship if a national league was to be successful.
“If you are talking about a national league then first unveil the sponsorship because without financial backing we cannot afford to play nationally. We would rather have two regional leagues to reduce travelling and camping costs. Remember women football is more of developmental in nature because of the lack of requisite funding so trying to form a national league would cripple us because there are no funds to sustain it,” said the official.
A Harare-based club official said if the national league was to go ahead it would most likely be dominated by teams owned by institutions. But it would be unfair on those who have made strides in creating the success that has been seen in women football over the years.
