The Sunday Mail
Petros Kausiyo and Langton Nyakwenda
AMID all the gloom and uncertainty brought by the coronavirus, which has crippled sport across the world, a silver lining has shone through the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and lower leagues as ZIFA and the league management body are working on mitigating the impact of the lockdown. This comes as the PSL’s perennial sponsors, Delta Beverages, reaffirmed their commitment to continue bankrolling the elite league “once everything returns to normal”. It has also emerged that ZIFA had already sought FIFA’s assistance for all their affiliates before the world soccer governing body announced on Friday that they were advancing associations US$500 000 grants from the Forward Future Development Programme funding in order to blunt the impact of Covid-19.
Zifa had earlier sought a bailout from Fifa understood to be just over US$2 million. If granted, it would be used to benefit junior football, the women’s game and clubs from Division One up to the PSL.
But the Premiership clubs, whose pre-season preparations had to be halted after the coronavirus outbreak, will have reason to smile after Delta indicated they would remain their biggest corporate partner.
Just like most firms across the world, Delta Beverages are also feeling the negative economic effects of the deadly virus, but the company yesterday confirmed they will not waver on their sponsorship package for the Premiership.
The company sponsors the championship, the Challenge Cup and Soccer Stars Awards through their premium brand, Castle Lager.
They also bankroll the league’s premier knockout competition, the Chibuku Super Cup. Delta Beverages were on the verge of announcing a fresh and improved deal for the PSL following the expiry of the latest deal at the end of the 2019 season when the Government announced a nationwide lockdown.
The lockdown has since been extended by a further 14 days to May 3 to stop the spread of the disease. Delta Beverages marketing executive, Irimayi Muzorewa, yesterday told The Sunday Mail Sport his firm remained committed to sponsoring Zimbabwe’s top-flight league. “We have been on record as saying that we have already agreed in principle with PSL about the new sponsorship package.
“What was left was just to sign a piece of paper, which is neither here nor there. That is still the position and when the time is ripe, we will be calling you to announce,” Muzorewa said.
“Just like everybody, we have been affected as well. But we stand guided by the Government on the way forward.
“We have no control to say the games should begin when because at the moment all the focus is on trying to get out of this problem. Right now the focus is on navigating the way out.”
PSL clubs are presently grappling with the financial effects caused by the lockdown, which has meant a delayed start to the 2020 season. Under normal circumstances, the 2020 season would have been entering Week Six this weekend. A number of club representatives who spoke to The Sunday Mail Sport during the week expressed concern over the continued financial losses.
Big clubs like Dynamos, Highlanders and CAPS United, which attract sizeable home crowds, would by now have pocketed at least a million dollars from gate takings.
Bosso, which attracts an average of 9 000 fans at Barbourfields Stadium, would by now have raked in at least $1,3 million, based on a minimum gate fee of $50.
But apart from the Delta’s commitment, ZIFA president Felton Kamambo yesterday revealed that he had already applied for a relief fund to cushion the domestic game before FIFA doled out US$150 million to be shared among 211 member countries.
The ZIFA president said they had written to all affiliates requesting them to table their requirements by Friday, the same day that FIFA indicated that each association would from this week receive US$500 000 from the $150 million payout.
Apparently, the FIFA funding was part of what associations were due to receive later in the year under the Forward 2.0 programme.
“This money we are going to receive is the same that we have been getting under Forward funds. In fact, we were due to receive it in July after meeting certain criteria, but FIFA have now said you can get it without meeting that criteria or any other conditions because they are aware of the complications brought about by lockdown in fulfilling some of the requirements,” said Kamambo.
“But, as an affiliate, we had written to FIFA seeking assistance so that we can also get some relief to assist our own affiliates, and that is still in process as we had been asked to get the requirements of each of our affiliates.
“So, it is not like what FIFA announced on Friday is the response to that Covid-19 relief fund, this one is only linked to Covid-19 in that the funding is coming without some conditions attached to it such as the need to first hold our AGM (annual general meeting), which we couldn’t because of the pandemic,’’ he said.
ZIFA were expecting to receive some funds, Kamambo also added, from their drawdown from last year, which they had not yet accessed.
“So from this US$500 000, no affiliate has been paid or is being paid but once we receive what we have applied for as relief fund, it will be definitely processed for the benefit of all our affiliates.
“It is also important to highlight that the US$500 000 from FIFA is not for creditors. As ZIFA, we are aware of our obligations to our creditors and there is already a process that is underway with the assistance from FIFA to clear our longstanding debts,’’ he said.
The ZIFA boss, however, said their efforts to clear debts had also been hamstrung by some creditors who had been securing High Court writs to garnish their accounts.
In a statement announcing the US$150 million bailout, FIFA confirmed that the funds were an advance payment of what was due to the associations for 2019 and 2020.
“As part of the measure, all remaining entitlements of member associations to operational costs under the Forward 2.0 Programme will be released in full for the years 2019 and 2020.
“In particular, the release of the second instalment of operational costs for 2020, which was originally due in July, will be paid immediately. Under normal circumstances, FIFA’s member associations would have only received the full amount of the contribution upon fulfilment of specific criteria.
“Instead, FIFA is now transferring this amount as an active support to help safeguard football across all member associations . . . This immediate financial assistance should be used to mitigate the financial impact of Covid-19 on football in member associations, namely to meet financial or operational obligations that they may have towards staff and other third parties,” read part of the statement. PSL chief executive Kenny Ndebele said while he understood the anxiety among the football community, there was need for patience by all stakeholders.
“This Covid-19 pandemic is huge . . .
“Social distancing and staying at home applies to everyone, including football players. The Government and the World Health Organisation will advise on each and every step to be taken until the situation is normal or a vaccine has been found.
“So, at the moment, no one has the answer on what will happen. Let us just follow guidelines from the President of Zimbabwe,” Ndebele said. Dynamos chairperson Isaiah Mupfurutsa seemed to speak for most of the clubs when he indicated that teams are grappling with how they will recover money invested in the pre-season.
Some clubs are reportedly mulling cost-cutting measures. Dynamos have so far spent an estimated $2 million on expenses such as salaries and pre-season programmes since January. “This figure excludes signing-on fees. We are spending a lot of money on human resources who are not doing the actual job they are paid for.
“Dynamos invested about half a million in pre-season training programmes, including player conditioning. All that money has gone to waste considering that we will obviously need to do another pre-season when the games finally commence,” Mupfurutsa said.
