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Warriors

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor—

ZIFA are literally moving mountains to keep the Warriors highly motivated at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals, with the association yesterday making a $110 000 payment to the players and coaching staff as a bonus for serving the country well with their gallant fight against Algeria in Gabon on Sunday night.

In an unprecedented move, in which the country’s football leaders have virtually feted the Warriors like kings, ZIFA yesterday paid $3 000 to each of the 23 players for their 2-2 draw against the Desert Foxes in a Group B opener at the Stade de Franceville, with the rest of the payment going to the technical staff led by coach Callisto Pasuwa.

This brings the earnings, which the players have received for their Gabonese adventure, to at least $25 000 each, while Pasuwa’s technical crew has pocketed at least $38 000 each.

The Warriors have two more group matches on the way, starting with a date against Senegal tomorrow night, and should they win both games, the players will get a further $12 000 each with the coaching staff getting about double that amount.

ZIFA’s contract with the Warriors does not have a clause that compels them to pay the players for a drawn match.

However, ZIFA vice president Omega Sibanda — speaking from Franceville yesterday — said his executive committee had resolved to “thank the players for their good show against Algeria and to motivate them for the next match against Senegal’’.

He refuted claims that the players had boycotted training to demand payment of a draw bonus, insisting the money was being paid at ZIFA’s initiative.

In a rare show of commitment and goodwill by the ZIFA leadership, Philip Chiyangwa’s management have bent backwards to ensure the Warriors are financially motivated in their bid to progress beyond the group stages of the Nations Cup with the players earning more than many top local business executives would inside seven days.

The Warriors are now reported to be the highest-paid team in Gabon.

That ZIFA have paid huge sums of money even before the Warriors have completed two assignments at the continental soccer show-piece now leaves the ball firmly in the players’ court and the pressure is now on Pasuwa’s men to deliver.

ZIFA board member in charge of the finance portfolio, Philemon Machana, who transferred the money yesterday, revealed that the management had resolved to literally break their coffers to keep the Warriors, “happy, focused and motivated.’’

It is against this background that ZIFA deposited $110 000 for the point the Warriors ground out when holding Algeria via a goal each by Kuda Mahachi and Nyasha Mushekwi.

“We have given them (the players) a draw bonus although our agreement initially was not covering all that. In our agreement we had resolved to pay them $6 000 bonus and $5 000 appearance fees and if you closely look at that agreement it stated that only the appearance fees was to be paid by January 12,” said Machana.

“On Monday we paid $43 800 for the daily allowances for the Cameroon trip then we also deposited $175 000 and that covers foreign daily allowances from 11 January to the period of the final group game (against Tunisia on January 23) and we have been drawing all these payments from the $1 million (from government) and we have $30 000 left in our coffers.”

Machana said such was the determination on their part to help the Warriors become the first Zimbabwean team to progress from the Nations Cup group stage, that ZIFA were still trying to source for more sponsorship and funding to meet the costs of the bonuses for the senior side’s games against Senegal tomorrow night and Tunisia the following week.

“So we now need to work extra hard to get more money because if they win against Senegal the players will want their money and it is our appeal to every Zimbabwean, individuals and corporates to assist us,” said Machana.

“I think NetOne are smiling with the positive impact they have made to our football with their sponsorship because the team is also performing well.

“If they go all the way the final the expenditure on allowances will rise to $3 million.”

It’s exactly the same figure that Ghana, four-time African champions, were paid for featuring at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

The ZIFA finance guru reckoned that an element of mistrust had forced the Association into agreeing to pay the appearance fees by January 12 although the executive committee had taken their show of commitment a step further by paying the players a bonus for their drawn game.

“We hope that with the commitment that we have shown the players can now trust us if we pledge to pay them at a later stage like in this case some of the money that we are looking to use will only come from the prize money from CAF.

“The fact that we thanked them for the draw which helped Zimbabweans to sleep peacefully on Sunday night shows that we want to them to succeed even more and if they can understand us we will win more and every Zimbabwean must know that when ZIFA fail to pay the players it is not Chiyangwa, Machana or Sibanda, who would have failed but it is the nation.

“So, since last Friday, no single player has taken less than $25 000. It is not that things are not tight for us in this tough economic environment but we appreciate what these players are doing and we also hope that they can understand that sourcing money is a process and not something that just happens in a day or two,’’ Machana said.

Sibanda, who is the Warriors head of delegation in Gabon, said although they were being guided by the working contract they had with the players, the ZIFA management would “leave no stone unturned to try and go all the way in this tournament’’.

The ZIFA vice-president maintained that the players and the authorities had put behind the problems that spoiled a planned farewell dinner for the Warriors on January 6 when the players boycotted the function to press for outstanding allowances and bonuses.

“There is no more friction and there was no animosity over the issue of the draw bonuses because it is something that was agreed to by the executive,” said Sibanda.

“We are now waiting for the game on Thursday and morale is high in camp because we want to win it and we will keep honouring our contract with the payers.”

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