SPANISH football league team Malaga could be heading to Zimbabwe this year as part of the partnership between Zifa and La liga.
BY HENRY MHARA
A La Liga representative in Africa, Barradas Antonio, met with Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa yesterday, where the two parties signed a partnership deal which would see them explore different business opportunities.
These include football exchange programmes and the Spanish top league providing football equipment and sending trainers to help in football development.
An initial catalogue of 1 000 balls would be given to Zifa immediately to kick-start the initiative.
Zifa, on their part, has undertaken to give mileage to La Liga in all the association’s initiatives.
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However, it is the possible arrival of Malaga that would most likely excite football fans.
The club is set to tour South Africa in July as part of their pre-season programme for the next season, and Zifa want to capitalise on that visit to persuade them to come to Harare.
“If all goes according to plan, we might have Malaga coming to Zimbabwe after their tour of South Africa. We have offered them a very lucrative package that we might take them to Victoria Falls to see one of the Seven World’s of the World and then fly to Harare,” Chiyangwa said.
“They will then play at the National Sports Stadium, not against the national team, but they will play our PSL [Premier Soccer League] teams. In other words, they will play one of the PSL teams or if a decision has to be made, they play PSL’s best local players.
“Again, it’s still under consideration that it might happen in July. Moreso, Antonio will negotiate on behalf of Zifa to send trainers to Zimbabwe.”
Barradas said he would try to persuade Malaga, but his main focus, as of now, was to develop football in Zimbabwe.
“We want to help with technology, the expertise, by bringing in trainers who will train locals at school level. La Liga is not here to make money, we are here to help the grassroots level, to the women’s league as well. People in Africa love football and we want them to enjoy Laliga football, it’s the best in the world,” he said.
“We will bring seven people starting next month, who will go to different countries in Africa and work from there to develop football in those areas. In the future, we will love to get African players, Zimbabwean players to play in Spain. That’s our main objective, and then bring teams from Spain here. It is almost impossible to bring Real Madrid or Barcelona for now, but the other medium clubs, yes, it’s a possibility to have them play some games here.
“We are bringing Malaga down to Cape Town and I can’t commit myself now to say they are coming here or not, but I will try my best. Since they would be in this part of the continent, it would be fantastic for them to get in a plane and come here to play a game. We had a discussion in the afternoon on that, and we will work on that.”