HARARE As far as international soccer competitions go the COSAFA Senior Challenge tournament that ends in Harare next week has certainly been a low-key affair but not for Zimbabwes soccer and tourism bosses who say the tournament has been a great success or rather a great platform to market the country. (Pictured: Go Warriors go -- A mascot and veteran With the worlds best soccer teams and millions of football fans expected to flock to the region for the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa next year, the battle among neighbours such as Zimbabwe is to get as big a slice of the cake as is possible by playing temporary host to foreign teams before they travel to South Africa.
For Zimbabwean Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi the COSAFA tournament is just what the country for long portrayed as unstable and in the grip of political violence wanted to showcase itself as a safe destination that has world class hotels and stadiums that foreign teams could use as camping ground before travelling to South Africa.
We have two stadiums hosting COSAFA matches at the moment and we have not had any complaints about them. The teams have so far been well taken care of. The hospitality is good, said Mzembi, who made it no secret that Zimbabwes motive to host the regional tournament was really to use the event as a display window ahead of the 2010 World Cup finals.
Sales pitch
If we can host more than five (COSAFA) teams, I dont see any reason why we cant have at least four or five teams here for the World Cup, Mzembi said, giving an insight into what is certainly going to be the fulcrum of Zimbabwes sales pitch to soccer bosses around the world.
All the 12 teams from Swaziland, Mauritius, Lesotho, the Comoros, Botswana, Seychelles, Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia as well as the host team that have taken part in the early rounds or are still involved in the tournament have been accommodated at some of Zimbabwes most expensive hotels.
For a country emerging from a decade of acute recession and that is struggling to raise cash for pressing social needs such as health and education, staging the COSAFA tournament is akin to going the proverbial extra mile in a bid to prove it is the ideal pre-tournament base for foreign teams headed for the 2010 finals.
Mzembi said it was an effort that is certain to reap handsome rewards with the Harare authorities already in negotiations with Big League names such as Brazil to drop by in Zimbabwe on their way to South Africa.
We have approached other national teams as well but they have told us to wait until they qualify and very soon we will be working on it again since most of them have now qualified, Mzembi said. We are really up to engaging the international community, he added.
Victoria Falls
And the tourism and soccer bosses are leaving no stone unturned in their drive to woo visitors to the country.
Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya hinted that the association could assist teams taking part in the COSAFA tournament visit the world-renowned Victoria Falls.
Three teams, Comoros, Seychelles and Mauritius had already requested for assistance to visit the majestic waterfalls on mighty Zambezi River that separates Zimbabwe from Zambia, according to the ZIFA chief.
We have had requests from the Comoros, Seychelles and Mauritius that they want to visit the Victoria Falls before leaving the country, Rushwaya told The Zimbabwean on Sunday.
She added: This is a good thing for the country as it shows that outside football, Zimbabwe is also a safe tourist destination and this should help us attract more foreign teams to Zimbabwe next year.
It remains to be seen what fruit Zimbabwe whose Warriors national team failed to qualify for the 2010 finals will reap from the FIFA tournament. But whatever happens the Zimbabweans cannot be blamed for not having tried to get a bite of the financial cherry that is the World Cup tournament.
Post published in: Football