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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter—

ZIFA announced yesterday that two teams will be relegated from the Premier Soccer League while four will be promoted in a compromise deal aimed at bringing sanity back in local football.This means, next season, the Premier Soccer League will have to accommodate 18 teams.

However, it could not be immediately ascertained if the PSL, who had insisted that two teams be promoted, will agree to the arrangement.

PSL have stood their ground and even took the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

The matter is still to be determined.

However, ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa, without providing much detail whether the league had assented to the new arrangement, said ZIFA will urgently convene an Assembly meeting to amend the constitution and pave way for 18 teams to make up the league next season.

“The Zimbabwe Football Association Executive Committee hereby informs the football fraternity and the nation that TWO teams will be relegated from the Premier soccer league in the just-ended season and FOUR teams will be promoted into the top-flight league for the 2017 season,” read the statement.

The PSL were not available to comment yesterday.

Chiyangwa also announced that the Association had placed the PSL emergency committee spokesperson Lewis Uriri back on suspension and appointed Dynamos president Kenny Mubaiwa as acting chairman of the league.

Mubaiwa is now expected to fill the vacancy left by Peter Dube who was also suspended by ZIFA for alleged misconduct.

However, PSL chief executive Kenny Ndebele yesterday said Uriri is the one who is commenting on behalf of the league on the contentious matter.

Uriri has been tasked by the elite clubs to handle the application to Court of Arbitration and the league and has already received confirmation that Swiss based organisation has begun proceedings in the arbitration case.

ZIFA are, however, adamant that the league should have first exhausted the domestic remedies before the matter up with arbitration.

Interestingly, in their communication yesterday, ZIFA, restored the suspension of Uriri after they lifted it last week.

According to ZIFA website, Uriri remains “suspended from all football activities after he rejected the association’s kind gesture to lift his suspension.

“Peter Dube, Ndumiso Gumede, Philani Ncube and Jerry Sibanda also remain suspended until the next ZIFA congress,” read the statement.

As it stands, Northern Region champions Black Rhinos, Southern Region winners Bantu Rovers, Central Regions champions Shabanie and Yadah Stars, who finished top in the Eastern Region, have been promoted.

Going down are Border Strikers and Mutare City with the duo relegated from the top flight.

The decision by ZIFA should solve the impasse which has threatened to cripple the local football with the league sponsors Delta Beverages also rasising concerns about the boardroom wrangles.

A committee which was set up by ZIFA consisting of PSL emergency committee members and which has Mubaiwa, Uriri, Triangle chairman Lovemore Matikinyidze and Chicken Inn boss Lifa Ncube met with ZIFA executive committee member responsible for competitions Piraishe Mabhena, who was tasked to handle the matter.