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Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association have called upon the Government to urgently set up a Trust Fund that will help in raising funds for the Warriors’ participation at the 2017 African Cup of Nations finals in Gabon next January.The Warriors are set to feature at the continent’s biggest football showpiece in the West African country for the third time in their history and they will play in Group B with continental powerhouses Algeria, Senegal and Tunisia.

And while ZIFA are now frantically making efforts to raise funds for the Warriors’ participation at this tournament, the ZNSSA’s founding father Eddie “Mboma” Nyatanga yesterday said there’s also a need to set up a Trust Fund that will help in raising the money that will be channelled to the Warriors’ preparations and participation at AFCON.

“As you know ZIFA are not in a healthy financial state at the moment and instead of them going around with a begging bowl, asking for money for the Warriors participation at the 2017 AFCON finals, the Government should quickly help them in coming up with a Trust Fund for this cause.

“I personally think that this Trust Fund should be set up as a matter of urgency so that ZIFA will be able to raise enough funds that will bankroll the Warriors’ preparations and participation at the 2017 African Cup of Nations tournament in Gabon.

“We are a soccer-loving country and we should all come together and pull all our resources together to make sure that the Warriors will have a successful campaign in Gabon,” Nyatanga said. The ZNSSA boss also backed ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa’s candidature for the COSAFA presidency.

Chiyangwa was recently nominated to fight for the COSAFA leadership post.

Chiyangwa, who was voted ZIFA boss last year, is one of the two people who have been nominated to fight current COSAFA boss Suketu Patel. The other is SAFA boss Danny Jordaan.

The COSAFA elections are scheduled for next month.

“It is good that one of our sons, ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa, has been nominated for the COSAFA presidency and we should all pull our weight behind him so that he gets the necessary support ahead of these crucial elections.

“I know that he has a fight on his hands when he goes for these elections but I’m quite convinced that he can pull off a big surprise if we do our homework well here in Zimbabwe and canvas for his support in other regional bodies.

“Chiyangwa should take COSAFA as a stepping stone or a springboard to rise up to become an influential member of the Confederation of African Football just like what our brother from Zambia, the legendary Kalusha Bwalya has done.

“As you know in the past football administrators from West and North Africa have been calling the shots when it comes to the running of the sport on this continent but I think it’s high time we should have our own people from this part of the world to get some influential positions in CAF.