Zifa in NSS dilemma
THE Confederation of African Football (Caf) has requested Zifa to submit documents for approval to use the National Sports Stadium (NSS) by July 13 ahead of the Fifa World Cup qualifiers set for September and October.
Zifa spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela said Caf would be inspecting the facility, which has previously been condemned by Caf, and appealed to government to move with speed to refurbish the stadium or once again, the Warriors face the risk of playing their home game against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana away.
Government, the owners of NSS, has not attended to the outstanding issues at the stadium, while Zifa has been given two weeks to tender the necessary documentation.
“We have received correspondence from Caf to inspect the National Sports Stadium and submit the necessary documents for the (approval) of the stadium by July 13. We will hear what Caf has to say. Our appeal as Zifa is for government to move with speed to address the outstanding renovations,” Gwesela said.
The outstanding issues include the installation of bucket seats, refurbishment of venue operations centre, improvement of the pitch itself, renovation of the B-Arena for training, electronic entrances to the stadium and the general cleanliness of the stadium.
Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation ministry deputy director Ignatious Vambe said tender processes were complete and by end of the week, whoever would be doing the works at the stadium would probably be known.
Vambe said the Finance ministry had said it was ready to avail the funding once the winner of the tender was announced.
“A lot is going on behind the scenes. The main issue was that of the bucket seats and because of the amounts of monies involved, we had to go to tender and the processes have been done and this week, there will be finalisation with the Praz [Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe]. This week, we will be able to hear who has won it. Zifa has provided the specifications and I am confident who ever will get it will be able to meet the deadlines,” Vambe said.
“The Finance ministry has also been pushing us, but unfortunately, you can’t jump tender processes. By the end of the week, we should have feedback on who will be doing the works and the Finance ministry is prepared to fund.”
Caf gave Zifa a reprieve for the Warriors to play Algeria in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers at the NSS in November last year and also sanctioned the senior men’s national team to play Zambia in March this year in another Afcon qualifier.
The World Cup qualifiers were supposed to start early this month, but were postponed to May and then September due to COVID-19.
In May, Caf okayed NSS for the World Cup qualifiers, but urged “Zimbabwe to complete all outstanding work in renovating the stadium so that it meets standards required to host senior men teams’ matches,” Gwesela said then.
In April after Zifa got a waiver to host the Afcon qualifiers, Caf fined the national football motherbody US$2 000 for the deplorable state of the stadium.
The Warriors start their World Cup qualifiers campaign with a home match against Bafana Bafana.
They then play back-to-back ties with Ghana and finish off with an away match to Bafana, with all the matches being played in September and October.
The winner in that group qualifies for the final round of the qualifiers slated for November.
The Warriors, albeit not a full squad, will have practice matches for the qualifiers as they are going for the Cosafa Cup which will be played from July 7 to 18 in South Africa.