HARARE - Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) have not bid to host the 2015 African Cup of Nations tournament, with the soccer body saying it held back on its bid for the continents top soccer event to pave way for neighbouring South Africa. (Pictured: Cuthebrt Dube Has not kep
South Africa are bidding to host the African tournament and are automatic to get the continents biggest soccer show after their impressive hosting of the World Cup. Confirming Zimbabwe is not in the running to host the nations cup, ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze said: We didn’t submit the bid. We realised it was not good for us to compete with our neighbours South Africa. This is what has been killing our bids in the past because countries from the same region were competing for those bids.
Imagine in the past event held in Angola we submitted our bid, Angola and Mozambique also submitted but if you look at it these are countries from the same region. We need to support each other. Mashingaidze said that ZIFA was instead bidding to host less prestigious tournaments for youth teams and womens soccer.
ZIFAs failure to bid for the African Nations Cup means president Cuthbert, who is yet to live up to his promise when he was elected six months ago to end chaos in the local game, will not fulfil his other promise to at least attempt to bring the next edition of the biennial tournament to Zimbabwe. My board shall bid to host Caf and Fifa competitions in a bid to re-brand and profile the association in particular and Zimbabwe in general. We shall work with various service providers in rehabilitating our facilities ahead of such big events, said Dube in his election manifesto.
His failure to bid for the 2015 finals means Dube, who will be at the helm of the soccer mother body for the next four years, will leave office without having managed to realise his dream of bidding for the biggest football event on the continent.
The last time Zimbabwe came close to hosting the biggest football event in the continent was in 2000 when they were given the right to host the soccer showpiece but were stripped of the right at the last minute with the Confederation of African Football citing ill-preparedness and lack of facilities in Zimbabwe for such a big event. The right to host the tournament was later given to Ghana and Nigeria who co-hosted it.
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News