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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Government says domestic football’s battered profile, worsened by Zimbabwe’s expulsion from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, was now tarnishing the image of the country.

The draw for the qualifiers will be held in Russia today and the Warriors are the only African national team missing.

Sport, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Tabetha Kanengoni-Malinga yesterday said those running football in the country were a “discredited” lot and the World Cup ban was only going to make things worse.

Domestic football, she said, was going to make it difficult for sponsors to come on board and partner the sport.

Last week the Mighty Warriors also failed to travel to Cote d’Ivoire to fulfil an Olympic Games qualifier.

“My ministry is concerned with the negative perceptions that will arise from Zimbabwe’s failure to participate in the said tournaments,” said Kanengoni-Malinga.

“Also of concern are the opportunities that the players, in particular, will miss, as both the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics run on four-year cycles.

“The battered football image in the country will also make it an uphill task to convince the corporate sector to invest in foot- ball.

“The Mighty Warriors were also supposed to travel to the Ivory Coast for the first leg of the Olympic qualifiers. This was not to be as funds could not be mobilised from both the corporate sector and Government.

“Approximately $39 000 was required for the airfares.

“It is pertinent to note that this failure to fulfil the fixture will attract FIFA sanctions but, more importantly, is the concern regarding our reputation as a country and the lost opportunities for our football players and officials.

“A few weeks earlier the men’s team was on the brink of failing to travel to the Comoros for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers until Treasury funding was secured at the last minute.

“Treasury was, however, unable to mobilise the resources when approached with a request to support the Ivory Coast trip.”

She said they were waiting for the on-going inquiry into football by the Sports and Recreation Commission to map the way for- ward.

“My ministry regrets these unfortunate developments and will want to assure the nation that solutions to the current problems are within reach,” she said.

“The evidence being gathered through the on-going inquiry into football matters being undertaken by the SRC will lay the foundation for getting the administration of football.”

Kanengoni-Malinga said they tried to engage ZIFA concerning the Valinhos issue but they could not get reasonable explanations from the football association with its chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze, assuring the ministry and SRC that they will settle the debt.

“Following this development, the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture and SRC met with ZIFA to seek an explanation as to how this matter was allowed to happen and how ZIFA intended to regularise the matter,” said Kanengoni-Malinga.

“No plausible explanation was given and the ZIFA CEO (Jonathan Mashingaidze) assured both the ministry and SRC that ZIFA would settle the debt from the subscriptions that the association was expecting from its affiliates including the PSL by the end of March 2015.

“They were then supposed to make the payment in April but as it turned out, no payment was made.

“Honourable Members will recall that as part of on-going efforts to deal with issues in ZIFA, we requested FIFA to send a delegation to Zimbabwe which visit took place from 11 to 12 May 2015.

“This delegation indicated that there was a possibility of Zimbabwe being reinstated if the payment to Valinhos was cleared and an appeal made to FIFA.

“In view of this, appeals were made to the corporate sector for support to clear this debt but to date no positive feedback has been received.

“It is apparent that the corporate sector is sceptical about investing in football, particularly on programmes that are directly superintended by the discredited leadership that is currently at the helm of ZIFA right now.

“It is possible that some are sitting on the fence awaiting the outcome of the ongoing inquiry into football matters.

“It is also regrettable that no funds could be availed from the fiscus for this and other national team assignments owing to budgetary constraints.”

This is the first time that Zimbabwe is going to miss out on the qualification process of the FIFA World Cup since independence.