Zimpapers Logo

Hardlife Zvirekwi

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter—

CAPS United stars Leonard Tsipa and Hardlife Zvirekwi are expected to lead the way for the Green Machine whose players are set to dominate the Soccer Stars of the Year list when the selection panel meets in Harare today.The panel, comprising 33 sports journalists who covered most of the league matches, 16 club captains and 16 coaches from the Premiership, is expected to come up with the list of finalists at the end of the day.

The eleven finalists will be made public today ahead of the season-closing banquet this Friday when the Soccer Star of the Year will be crowned.

Makepekepe have just completed a remarkable season under their son Lloyd Chitembwe in which they ended an 11-year barren run by winning the championship.

The campaign was anchored mainly on players such as Hardlife Zvirekwi, Leonard Tsipa, Denis Dauda, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Devon Chafa and Phineas Bhamusi who all should be vying for their places on the calendar.

Their coach Chitembwe is also a strong candidate for the Coach of the Year award after transforming the under-achieving Green Machine outfit into champions.

And, in a season in which players from the 16 teams found it difficult to perform consistently, it is most likely that one of the CAPS United players will land the top gong replacing former Chicken Inn skipper Danny Phiri who has since moved to South Africa.

The last CAPS United player to win the Soccer Star of the Year award was Malawian midfielder Joseph Kamwendo in 2005.

But this year it appears veteran forward Tsipa and Zvirekwi should be up for big things.

Leonard Tsipa

Tsipa, in particular, will be looking to sign off his comeback season on a high note after winning the Golden Boot for the second time in his career.

FC Platinum, who finished as runners-up, also had some players like Winston Mhango, Walter Musona, Rodwell Chinyengetere, Elvis Moyo and Petros Mhari who is a strong contender for the Goalkeeper of the Year.

Although defending champions Chicken Inn disappointed this year, veteran midfielder Clemence Matawu stood out and is likely to be one of the few players to be voted back to the finalists’ podium for the second year running.

There is also likely to be some tough decisions on former Highlanders utility player Bruce Kangwa.

The Warriors left-back shone in the half of the season winning a hat-trick of Player of the Month awards between April and June before he left for Tanzania.

Kangwa played a key role for Highlanders in a promising campaign and had met the mandatory 10 games threshold as stipulated by the selection rules, which makes him eligible for selection.

Young defender Peter Muduwa is also another prospect from Highlanders while teammate Prince Dube has done well to vie for the Under-20 Player of the season.

There were also exciting prospects from Harare City who had young players like Jerry Chipangura, Tatenda Tumba, Learnmore Muyambo and Hastings Chapusha.

Giants Dynamos had a poor season and if they are to have a player on the calendar it has to be goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva, Godknows Murwira and probably Brett Amidu. Hwange’s Gift Mbweti, who lost the Golden Boot award to Tsipa, is also

fancying his chances.

The forward finished with nine goals and was on two occasions voted the player of the month despite his club’s woes this year.

Newboys Ngezi Platinum also had a dream season in which they bagged silverware on debut with skipper Liberty Chakoroma and striker Donald Teguru key members.

Mutare City could have been relegated but their striker Kudakwashe Gurure could be a surprise pick for the selectors.

An official said they are expecting a fair selection. The good thing this year is the names of the panelists will be published against the list of players they selected for the sake of transparency.

The organisers have also reviewed the number of the red cards and cautions. The football fraternity will not be kept in suspense for long this year as the winners will be announced at a banquet on Friday.

According to the statement from the PSL on the selection process it will be conducted using an electronic voting system.

“All voting will be overseen by the PSL and Delta Beverages including their associated partners. A selected panel of experts which comprises of Sports Media Editors, representatives of the Footballers Association of Zimbabwe and football experts will be led by a convenor in observing the voting process.

“The Most Disciplined Team award will be awarded to the team with the least cumulative points at the end of the season.

“Disciplinary judgments or standing order fines points system including the red and yellow cards disciplinary point’s criteria contained in these regulations.

“The Referee of the Year, first and second Runner-Up will be selected independently by the ZIFA Referees Committee.”