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ONE FUSION . . . National Football Association of Zimbabwe president Philip Chiyangwa (left) and NetOne acting chief executive Brian Mutandiro exchange documents in Harare yesterday while NFAZ general-secretary Kenny Ndebele bears witness to the deal

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
IN the week that Zimbabwe football delivered on the pitch, the National Football Association of Zimbabwe also scored big in the boardroom yesterday when they tied a landmark deal with NetOne that could change the face of the country’s football controlling body. NetOne, who have been on an aggressive drive to become a very big player on the local market after, for long, living in the shadows of their competitors Econet and Telecel, also hope to reap huge rewards from the partnership.

Mobile phone companies have been major players in the sponsorship of football around the world, but their presence in the country’s biggest sporting discipline has been peripheral. MTN Zambia are the flagship sponsors of football in that country, bankrolling the Football Association of Zambia and the country’s top-flight league, with the last injection — two years ago — amounting to close to $3 million.

The two parties are set to enter into negotiations for a new and improved deal next year. Zambian clubs, who for some time had been supplying players into the domestic Premiership, including Ian Bakala, who won the league championship with CAPS United, now have the financial muscle to keep some of these players at home.

MTN are also major players in South African football and sponsor the MTN8 Wafa Wafa knockout tournament, SuperSport’s Thursday Night Live With Marawa magazine programme, and Bloemfontein Celtics.

Vodacom have been the principal sponsors of South Africa’s two biggest football clubs, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Now, it appears, NetOne are destined to be a major player in Zimbabwean football after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the NFAZ leadership.

NetOne, who recently introduced One Fusion, were represented at the signing ceremony by the company’s acting chief executive Brian Mutandiro. NFAZ were represented by its president, Philip Chiyangwa and general-secretary Kenny Ndebele.

The legal representatives from the two parties were also part of the signing ceremony and yesterday’s function followed a marathon of meetings between the two organisations. Mutandiro said they were excited about the deal, which is beneficial to both parties.

“For us, this is a great opportunity to increase our subscriber base,” said Mutandiro. “We are also saying we love our Zimbabwe teams in various categories and as a responsible network, we want to partner with NFAZ.

“This is going to be a situation where we jointly create programmes to create revenue from which revenue they can benefit, we can benefit. “We see great opportunities, going forward, this is the start and there are a number of steps to develop a watertight arrangement which benefits both parties and for us we are excited.”

Chiyangwa said this was not a deal that will see the domestic football governing body being spoon-fed by their partner. He said they will also help NetOne grow as a company. “NetOne’s growth creates opportunities for us, this partnership entails that we sweat for it, not for NetOne to just dip and give us money,” said Chiyangwa.

“We have agreed on certain thresholds, which will enable us to be funded from that sweat and, so, from here we are going to operationalise a proper agreement that would emanate from this Memorandum of Understanding.”

The NFAZ boss said their partnership was likely to be a long-term venture and will benefit all arms of football, the Warriors, the Mighty Warriors and the Young Warriors. There has been an expectation that a number of companies will come knocking on the NFAZ door for a share of the cake, now that football in this country appears to be going in the right direction.

The success of the Mighty Warriors, who qualified for the Olympic Games, and the success of the Warriors, who ended a 10-year wait to play at the Nations Cup finals, have boosted the appeal of football in this country.

Thousands of fans have been converging at the National Sports Stadium, whenever the Warriors play their home matches, as domestic football once again shows its pulling power.