The Zimbabwe football association is reportedly thinking of withdrawing from COSAFA after last week’s suspension and $200k fine. ZIFA was fined after it failed to comply with the deadline to commit to hosting 2021 COSAFA Tournament.
If or when the Body withdrawals its membership from COSAFA they plan or wish to join the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations CECAFA. Speaking to the NewsDay about the whole debacle one Executive from ZIFA said:
And people should know that Zifa never made a bid to host the tournament, but only showed interest. Bidding for the tournament entails an association to submit a government guarantee, which was never submitted. What Zifa did was just a show of interest and for Cosafa to consider it as a proper bid is an act of mischief on their part. We know there is a third force behind this, including some top Cosafa bosses who are trying to destabilise the current Zifa leadership.
We think the best way is to pull out of Cosafa and join other associations where we are appreciated better. This is one of the issues that will be discussed in the board meeting
ZIFA is also considering pulling the Mighty Warriors and The Young Warriors from COSAFA tournaments lined up even though the Warriors are the only ones suspended.
Why should we send the women teams when they have banned us? They know Zimbabwe is a crowd puller and a big brand in the region. We are seriously considering
pulling out
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