BY FORTUNE MBELE THE Premier Soccer League (PSL) is preparing to invoice Zifa for expenses incurred by clubs after last week’s fixtures were aborted following the withdrawal of referees by the mother body.
All nine mid-week matches that should have run from Tuesday to Thursday last week were cancelled after match officials boycotted.
A number of clubs had travelled long distances for the match, with Dynamos having made the trip to Triangle only to discover that there were no referees to take charge of the match.
The match officials stayed away just a few hours after the entire Zifa board had been suspended by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).
Five fixtures supposed to have been played on Tuesday were abandoned after referees were advised by the Zifa Referees Committee not to officiate.
The PSL postponed the matches that were supposed to be played on Wednesday and Thursday and rescheduled them to this weekend starting with Cranborne Bullets hosting Bulawayo Chiefs at the National Sports Stadium on Friday.
PSL chief executive Kenny Ndebele yesterday confirmed that the league was seeking reimbursement from Zifa.
“We are finalising the figures. We have received figures from clubs, so we are putting the documents together for submission to Zifa. It is important that people should realise how much clubs and their sponsors have put in the development of football given the two years of football inactivity. We have also not forgotten that PSL only received US$120 000 of the US$1,8 million which came from Fifa and Caf as part of COVID-19 relief funds. It is fortunate that we did not have many fans attending those matches last week, otherwise it would have been a disaster,” Ndebele said.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
The Zifa secretariat has not been reporting for duty since the board was dissolved last week.
The referees were available to cover the Chibuku Super Cup semi-finals last weekend which saw Ngezi Platinum Stars prevail over Cranborne Bullets on Saturday and FC Platinum cruising past Dynamos at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday to set up an all-platinum final.
Fixtures (All matches at 3pm)
Friday: Cranborne Bullets v Bulawayo Chiefs (National Sports Stadium)
Saturday: FC Platinum v Chicken Inn (Mandava), Yadah v ZPC Kariba (Baobab), Herentals v Black Rhinos (National Sports Stadium), Bulawayo City v Manica Diamonds (Barbourfields), Tenax CS v Whawha (Sakubva)
Sunday: Highlanders v Ngezi Platinum Stars (Barbourfields), Triangle v Dynamos (Gibbo), Caps United v Harare City (National Sports Stadium).
Follow Fortune on Twitter @fmbele
