FARAI CHITOTOMBE
MASVINGO-ZIFA Eastern Region Soccer League chairman, Davison Muchena has welcomed the lifting of the ban on Zimbabwean football by FIFA recently.
Zimbabwe has been in the football wilderness following its ban by FIFA in early 2022 after the dissolution of the Felton Kamambo led ZIFA board by the Sports and Recreation Commission on allegations of abuse of women referees and embezzlement of funds among others.
FIFA lifted the ban on Monday and appointed a nomalisation committee led by Lincoln Mutasa to run the affairs of football in the country for the next 12 months.
Muchena expressed relief and said football will begin to have proper direction in the country with upcoming players now having the opportunity to showcase their talent at the international stage.
“The lift of this ban is very pleasing and good for the nation if you consider that our football standards have been going down during the period we were in isolation.
“The young players with all the potential could not play in competitions like COSAFA, the Under 23 Africa Cup of Nations games held recently and other international competitions.
“We have lost good competitive games we could not play in and this might take us 5 to 10 years to catch up with other countries.
“We thank FIFA for this opportunity since this will allow our teams and players to have more chances of playing international football,” said the veteran football administrator.
“The lifting of the suspension was long overdue because football business is in selling players abroad and without international football there would not be a platform to showcase the talents that we have which are our assets,” Manica Diamonds FC adminstrator Owen Sango said.
“When a team play in the Champions League or a Confederation Cup, the outside world will have a chance to see your players thereby increasing the chances of selling players.
“For example our Manica Diamonds Last Jesi who is on loan to FC Platinum which was playing in the CAF Champions League some time back where he just played two games and was spotted by Al Hilal of Sudan and we made a sell which shows the importance of playing international football,” added Sango.
“The lift of the ban helps to promote local football because football is big business and entertainment especially in third world countries.
“The suspension had affected a lot of young people who have talents they could not showcase at international fora. We are happy and thankful because this will also help in raising and building new talents which will compete on higher levels in other countries,” said Surrey FC secretary general Tapiwa Muziiwa.
One local football fan Decent Mtata said, “the lift of ban on Zimbabwe by FIFA will improve local football a lot, I believe the ban made the local organizations involved notice several areas which needs to be worked on in our local football and this lifting means the responsible boards are working on them already, hence conditions for footballing will be much better.”
“The lift also came when local fans were yearning to cheer up their local talents as witnessed by the recent vibe that characterized cricket world cup qualifying games when a lot of fans including football fans had to turn to cricket in search of sporting activities to support hence l believe the lifting was long overdue.”
Another football fan Arthur Nindi who commented said, “the lift of this suspension will be helpful to boosting local football business since it is a source of revenue in Zimbabwe for a lot of people.
