Zimbabwe: Fifa Pledge Cosafa Backing

Petros Kausiyo

30 June 2011

IN a major development for the regional game, Fifa have embraced the Cosafa Women’s Championships being staged in Harare with the world soccer governing body yesterday pledging to take over the funding of the tournament.

The competition, which had hung in the balance when Indian Ocean islanders Reunion withdrew from hosting it, was a thrown a lifeline when Zifa agreed to stage it in Harare at the 11th hour.

Despite the Sport and Recreation Commission having turned their backs on Zifa when the association sought their help, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry chipped in and undertook to underwrite the accommodation costs of the eight-team tournament.

But yesterday both Zifa and the Cosafa leadership were left a relieved lot after Fifa embraced the regional tournament and indicated they would now take over the funding of the competition.

The Cosafa tournament will run at Rufaro and Gwanzura from July 2-9.

Some of the participating teams like Botswana began trooping into the country yesterday.

While the teams were arriving, Zifa and Cosafa were left beaming following communication from Fifa that the world body would now take over the costs of running the tourney and would reimburse the tourism authorities the costs they had incurred in hosting the tournament’s delegates.

Fifa senior manager for development programmes in Africa Francesco Bruscoli wrote to the world body’s development officer for Southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi confirming their willingness to fund the women’s tournament.

Bruscoli also asked Zifa to provide with immediate effect the letter of guarantee that the local soccer mother body had indeed undertaken to host the tournament.

“As you are aware Fifa will support the Cosafa Women’s football competition in Zimbabwe.

“In order for Fifa to proceed with the financial support, we would need a letter from the Zimbabwe Federation stating that:

l They are organising the tournament

l The Ministry of Tourism is in charge of the organisation of the booking and accommodation

l They authorise Fifa to pay the Ministry of Tourism for expenses related to the organisation of the tournament.

“As you might understand the letter is urgent and we would need it by today,” wrote Bruscoli.

Zifa president Cuthbert Dube said his association had been grateful to Fifa for their gesture to come on board and support Cosafa’s initiative to develop the women’s game.

“We are indeed very grateful to Fifa and we are responding immediately given the urgency that has been attached to this matter,” Dube said.

Relations between Zifa and Fifa have also been improving and as part of the goodwill that has been flowing between the world body and their African affiliate, Dube revealed that they were also expecting football equipment from Fifa that would be used for the association’s development programmes.

Dube also called on the corporate world to emulate Fifa’s gesture and also help make the Cosafa tournament a huge success that would showcase Zimbabwe’s capacity to host even bigger events like the African Cup of Nations, the African Nations Championships, African Under-17 and African Under-20 Championships.

Zimbabwe had the right to host the 2000 Nations Cup taken away from the country just months before the competition started in a controversial move by the Confederation of African Football.

But the country was a successful host of the 2009 Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup.

Dube said the decision by Fifa to bankroll the Women’s tournament highlighted the significance that the world body was placing on development and also showed the “renewed confidence the international football family is having in Zifa”.

“Here is the world body showing confidence in the Zifa leadership.

“Is it not a huge challenge to the corporate world to also come on board? We are calling on them to reciprocate what Fifa has done.

“I think my interactions with Fifa in Zurich have paid off because when we went there for the congress we conducted ourselves as business people.

“For us such events are not a social gathering. It was an opportunity to tell the true story of Zimbabwean football and the fact that Cosafa have come in, Caf have praised us for our efforts and now the highest level of world football has come is simply wonderful

“If this is not a show of confidence then I don’t know what is?

“We have cried to Fifa as our mother and they have been listening to our plight as an association and as a region,” Dube said.

Cosafa chief operations officer Sue Destombes had earlier indicated too that the regional body would seek Fifa help in running the championships.

Destombes also reckoned that the competition would be a success and noted that it had “come at an opportune time for the participating teams”.

“I think this tournament is coming at a very opportune time and it gives countries like Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe a platform to prepare for the All-Africa Games.

“Such development tournaments provide a platform for national associations to increase the growth of women’s football which has not been getting its fair share of development.

“Women’s football is very much in the focus of Fifa,” Destombes said.

Destombes also felt the Cosafa tournament was necessary to help lift the standards of the game in the region and ensure that Southern Africa would have more representatives at such competitions like the African Championships and the World Cup.

“Every time you see the African women’s championships it is only South Africa and we need more numbers from the region in order to end the dominance of North and West African teams. Such tournaments should also help in the development of women’s leagues and if you look at Nigeria, there is strong funding for the league.

“Caf and Fifa are always supportive of the Zones staging tournaments whether it is Under-17, Under-20 or women’s,” said Destombes.

Destombes was also hopeful that the local fans would embrace the tournament in the same manner they did with the 2002 edition when the Mighty Warriors held the nation spellbound with fairy-tale run that only ended with a 2-1 defeat to South Africa’s Banyana Banyana in the final.

“We are looking at having a successful tournament, good interest from the Zimbabwe public and from the television viewers and that the tournament will present a platform for the women’s game in the region to grow. Indeed we are happy that Zimbabwe has rolled out a programme and things are on track to stage the event,” Destombes said.

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