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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
DOMESTIC football is this season set to have its own version of the Diski Challenge with a group of Harare academies setting up their league which kicks off on April 6 at Hellenic Sports Club.

The Challenge Football League was unveiled at a function in Harare with its chairman Farai Dhliwayo indicating that it would cater for players between 18-21 years and that they are expecting a number of international scouts to follow their games.

Dhliwayo, a passionate development coach, who founded the Legends Academy said they had noticed a gap in terms of the players that are being grommet and the academies were complementing the work being done by clubs especially the Premiership sides.

All the matches would be played at a more central venue — the Hellenic Sports Club — in a move also aimed at containing costs.

“The league is filling a gap as there are far more quality young players being developed than Premier League clubs can accommodate. Furthermore, players aged between 18-21 are still developing and Premiership clubs are in the business of results and using finished products.

“The academies believe football is a business and as such are running the league on business principles.

It is the aim of the CFL to be sustainable. Part of this involves ensuring all players are registered and transferable. Proceeds from transfers are fed to the feeder academy and also 20% goes to the league,’’ Dhliwayo said. Dhliwayo could also not hide his joy at having ZIFA through their technical director, Wilson Mutekede, embracing the league.