Lockdown takes toll on foreign players
THE COVID-19-induced lockdown has taken a toll on foreign football players who for the last four months have endured loneliness as they are locked in Zimbabwe.
While local players have utilised the lockdown time to unite with their families, foreign players plying their trade in the Premier Soccer League are enduring loneliness as the start of this year’s topflight football remains in limbo.
So cruel has been the lockdown that FC Platinum forward Guyve Nsiala Mawete could not attend his mother’s funeral in the Democratic Republic of Congo two months ago.
The Congolese trio of Mawete, Ellie ILunga and Felly Mulumba have been restricted to the small mining town of Zvishavane.
Mulumba told NewsDay Sport yesterday that he was at pains to explain his experience during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“I must be honest, this has been the most difficult time of my life as a footballer. Nobody saw it coming, otherwise we could have requested time to go home. All the same, being here is important in case things go back to normal,” he said.
“We are here for this job and we are just hanging on for the sake of fulfilling our obligations as players, but we miss being with our families.
“I am praying that the club will allow me and assit my trip back home (Democratic Republic of Congo) when it is possible.”
It remains to be seen if clubs will be able to continue fulfilling their end of the bargain, as foreign players are paid in foreign currency.