Five-A-side league kicks off

NINE clubs have registered to participate in the Southern Region Five-A-side Soccer League that kicks off tomorrow at the Grassroots Soccer Football for Hope Centre in Gwabalanda.

The teams that have joined the league are Flying Stars, Bulawayo Artists, Amabhubesi, Cash Money, Mzilikazi Pirates, Nust, Emakhandeni FC, Kilmanock and Street Set.

Southern Region Five-A-side League chairman Philani Banda said the league recently welcomed Emakhandeni FC, Kilmanock and Street Set.

“We are happy to have three new affiliates to our Southern Region FiveA-side League. We believe that this is an indication that we are moving in the right direction. We now have a total of nine affiliates ahead of the start of the 2018 season.

“We are excited with the way the teams responded to the call to register with the league. Our major challenge is financial. Our aspiration now is to play host to international competitions. We have an exciting new crop of players that have displayed talent but our clubs struggle to participate in major tournaments due to financial constraints,” he said.

“Another letdown, not only in Bulawayo but the whole country, is the lack of serious competition. As soon as we have other provinces besides Bulawayo and Harare coming in as major players, the sport will make great strides.

“We also need to have more playing facilities. In Bulawayo we only have a stadium in Gwabalanda but in order to grow the sport we need more facilities. We released our fixtures programme last week and we are looking forward to having a great 2018 season,” said Banda.

Champions Bulawayo Artists begin their title defence with a battle against seasoned campaigners Nust with league debutants Emakhandeni squaring off with Flying Stars.

Fox begin their campaign against Amabhubesi while Cash Money will fight it out against newboys Kilmanock. Street Set are on a bye.