Mash optimistic!

Ngqwele Dube Sports Correspondent
DESPITE glaring failures when it came to team performances, the Zimbabwe Football Association chief executive officer, Jonathan Mashingaidze says they learnt lessons and were looking forward to turning around fortunes this year. The dismal performance by the Warriors in their attempt to qualify for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament was roundly condemned as the senior national team fell by the wayside in the preliminary stages, their worst performance in recent years.

Zifa reacted to the abject failure by disbanding the national team, turning to the younger players, and giving the under-23 team the role of saviours where the seniors failed

In a wide ranging interview this week, Mashingaidze said starting from the bottom would give the coaches time to work with the players as they developed and ensured that they became a cohesive unit, adding that it was critical to work on building for the future.
Former Dynamos coach, Calisto Pasuwa was appointed under-23 coach alongside ZPC’s Saul Chaminuka.

“We need fresh legs and young minds who appreciate the role of playing for the national team and who do not have a mercenary mentality. It was disheartening that in the run-up to the match against Tanzania, we agreed with the players that they will receive $700 for the game but 24 hours before the game they were demanding $2 000 despite our earlier agreement.

“It is not a secret that we have been facing financial challenges and we want to work with players who appreciate the situation instead of demanding money which will leave us in more debt,” said Mashingaidze.

He, however, said in preparation for future national team qualifiers the coaches would decide on who to choose and will not be restricted to under-23 players only but the core of the team should be made up of the youngsters.

Mashingaidze praised the Warriors for their valiant efforts in reaching the semi-finals of the African Nations Championships that were held in South Africa early last year, a feat which he said showed that the local premier league was among the best in Africa.

“The performance was clearly pleasing and it showed that we have quality players in our local premier league compared to others in Africa. The interest generated by our players from various quarters was also an indication of the quality we have.

“However, it is critical that in future we protect our players from bogus agents as we had several players being duped later on by these agents. Having agents invade our camp was another blemish that we should guard against. It is unfortunate they (agents) were working in cahoots with the technical department. I think people should decide what role they should play and stick to it,” said Mashingaidze, adding that they (ZIFA) were looking forward to qualifying for next year’s CHAN to be hosted by Rwanda, anticipating the national side to put up another brilliant performance.

The Mighty Warriors also failed to qualify for the African Women Championships that were held in Namibia, which was a blow to women’s soccer that had already been in the doldrums as the Super League had been on hold then.

Mashingaidze said there was a need to have strong feeder leagues for women football to ensure players had the requisite experience ahead of national team selection.

He said it was also unfortunate the career span of female footballers was low as they were likely to stop playing once they got married meaning talent being easily lost prematurely.

“We have already engaged Fifa on women football funding but the money will not be channelled towards an elite league as Fifa said they want it to be spread through the grassroots hence we would reach out to provincial leagues.

“Fifa have agreed to release the funds once we have a set framework that would be able to reach all corners of the country and not go to a league with just 14 teams. Spreading the funds would ensure more talent is unearthed thus securing a strong national women’s side,” said the Zifa chief administrator.
Mashingaidze said they were keen to put a lid on their debt by strengthening the Zimbabwe Football Trust through a restructuring process that will see the setting up of a secretariat for the organ.

He said the arm was critical in raising funds for the association and a new approach was needed if they were to retire the football mother-body’s debt that currently stands at $6 million.

Zifa was faced with several lawsuits last year, some of which saw some property at Zifa Village being attached by the Messenger of Court.
Lack of financial support from Government has seen Zifa wallowing in debt, with its president, Cuthbert Dube being called upon on several occasions to fund national team trips.

“We will be working on strengthening the football trust to ensure they are better equipped to run fundraising ventures such as the dollar for football project. We launched an Ecocash number in April where people could send donations but the money has been coming in drips and drabs and feel if it is taken over by the ZFT there might be some success.

“Selling merchandise is also one area we are strongly looking at as we believe we can earn enough to be able to retire our debt within the next three years,” said Mashingaidze.

“Fifa urged us to engage those we owe and agree on payment plans that would result in Zifa settling the dues amicably without the creditors resorting to court action.”

The Asiagate debacle is likely to be concluded within the next three months as all the files pertaining to the match-fixing saga will be handed over to the Zifa disciplinary committee which has been tasked with bringing the issue to finality, said Mashingaidze.

Former Highlanders player, Danisa Phiri will be hoping for redemption as he was handed a life ban after his travel with the national team were bundled together with Chicken Inn’s Danny Phiri as one.

Phiri made efforts to engage Zifa but they have asked him to wait for the process to come to a conclusion and Mashingaidze said they would like to see him resume his life in football.

“We feel for him because of what happened but we cannot jump the gun and intervene in the legal process. However, we have noted his case and justice will certainly be done. Every case will be given due attention and we do not want it to drag forever,” he said.

Zifa’s next annual general meeting scheduled for March will see the assembly selecting a new patron for the association following the death of Vice-President Landa John Nkomo in 2013.

Mashingaidze said the role of patron was critical hence they would be appointing one in March.
“A patron can be the uniting voice in football and assist Zifa and football in general whenever the need arises. The process of identifying the patron is underway and the assembly will be tasked with approving that person,” he said.

New statutes that came with the altering of the Zifa constitution last year saw a new look board which was trimmed from 13 to eight and with the board members having no titles except the president and vice-president.

Other members are assigned roles to chair standing committees.
Mashingaidze said they would conduct another induction programme this year to ensure all people were familiar with their roles and do not overlap on roles.

The draft rules and regulations will also be ratified in March to replace the obsolete ones that came into effect in 1996 and had not been updated despite numerous changes that took place in international football.

Mashingaidze said Zifa had qualified for the next phase of the Goal Project funding following the completion of the Zifa Village and laying of the artificial turf in Mount Hampden.

The country’s football body will this year commence the building of new headquarters that will accommodate all arms of Zifa including referees, finance, marketing, women football and grassroots.

Mashingaidze said they had already acquired a piece of land in one of Harare’s leafy suburbs where the head offices would be situated.
“Fifa has approved our plans and will soon be releasing funding for the building of the new offices as we seek to move away from our current offices. We believe the completion of the turf is one of our successes and moving forward to the construction of the offices will see us marching towards the construction of a proposed technical centre in Bulawayo,” he said.

Mashingaidze said they will continue implementing the Zifa Strategic Plan that was launched last year and hinged on seven key result areas.