No joy for lower division leagues

The lower division football leagues will have to wait a little longer to witness the resumption of the game after their application was turned down by ZIFA.

The mother body insists only the flagship competition the Premier Soccer League had been given the nod to return to action while the lower leagues will have to adhere to strict COVID-19 protocols if they are to entertain any hopes of football resumption this year.

“The Zimbabwe Football Association would like to inform all lower leagues that their resumption of football competitions has not been authorised. Only Premier Soccer League competitions have been authorised so far. We remind lower leagues to provide detailed written submissions regarding their preparedness. They should include list of teams, vaccinated players and officials and proposed venues to be used,” said ZIFA in a statement.

ZIFA’s four regions, Eastern, Southern, Northern and Central met in Masvingo at the beginning of the month and had tentatively set October 29 to start their season and end in May.

The affiliates had also resolved that pre-season for registered and affiliated clubs would start training from September 20 to October 22 the same time the inspection of venues will be taking place while it was also proposed that player registration deadline will be October 22.