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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
ZIFA communications and competitions manager Xolisani Gwesela is worried that the domestic game risks falling further behind other African countries largely due to poor infrastructure.

Gwesela is in Uganda for a CAF workshop on Club Licensing, which began in Kampala yesterday. He is accompanied by ZIFA First Instance Board chairman Piraishe Mabhena.

The ZIFA spokesman said the objectives of the workshop are to:

“Provide federations with an update on the club licensing system at the continental level.

“Receive a full update on the status of the club licensing system at the national level, meeting with federation representatives in order to provide special attention and assist them with special needs. Assist the federation with near future planning in order to have clubs ready before the deadline for engagement in the next CAF inter-club competitions.

“Organise interaction group sessions between federations to share best practices’’.

Gwesela said he was confident Zimbabwe would benefit from the results of the workshops that CAF are staging.

“We are very delighted to attend such a high-level workshop. In Zimbabwe we have already implemented club licensing and we are happy with the progress.

“Club licensing is a wonderful tool that will bring football development and growth.

“As is our norm, we will bring a lot of lessons back home for the benefit of our beautiful game,’’ Gwesela said.

But it is the poor state of the infrastructure, including Rufaro, that has left Gwesela a concerned man.

“Our biggest problem in Zimbabwe is infrastructure. We are lagging behind compared to other African nations. All our stadiums are in bad shape and they need to be attended to urgently and renovated.

“Most of them were built in the 1950s and 1960s and we are still using the same infrastructure. This is unacceptable in the 21st century.

“Just across the Zambezi River in Zambia, there is commendable infrastructure development and we have seen (them) building big top-class stadiums which meet international standards. Stadium owners need to move with speed and invest in the renovation of these stadiums. We want to see most of our stadiums homologated by CAF to host matches for the CAF inter-club competitions,’’ said Gwesela.

COSAFA have secured the use of five top-class stadiums for next month’s COSAFA Cup.

King Zwelithini, the home of Ovidy Karuru and Talent Chawapihwa’s AmaZulu, Princess Magogo in Kwa Mashu, Sugar Ray Xulu and Chatsworth are some of the venues that have been shortlisted for the regional tournament.