Zifa Southern Region Five-A-Side opens for registration

ZIFA Southern Region Five-A-side Association has opened registration for the 2018 league set to start in April.

The league had six teams in the 2017 season and these were: Flying Stars, Nust, Cash Money, Bulawayo Artists, Fox and Amabhubesi.

Southern Region Five-A-side League deputy secretary Prince Musipa said they aim to register more teams into their league. “We have opened registration for teams and the deadline is the last day of March. We have pegged registration fees at $20 and hopefully more teams will register. We also want to engage and promote the girl child by having a women’s league,” said Musipa.

He said lack of sponsorship was a major stumbling block to the growth and development of the sport in the city and the country as a whole. “Our major challenge is financial. Our desire 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 tournament due to financial constraints,” he said.

Worldwide Five A-side football is played on a smaller field and mainly indoors. It is played between two teams of five players each, one of who is a goalkeeper, and unlimited substitutions are permitted. Five A-side football is played with a smaller ball that has less bounce compared to a regular football due to the surface of the field.

The surface, ball and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces. — @innocentskizoe