By David Gold
October 4 – The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) has revealed an interest in bidding to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to encourage investment in football infrastructure.
This was spurred on after the Government recently pushed ZIFA to bid to host the event to stimulate the country’s economy.
Zimbabwe has struggled in the past to stage major tournaments, despite being awarded the 2000 African Nations Cup.
However, the 2000 hosting rights were taken away from Zimbabwe because of a lack of Government guarantees and were instead handed over to co-hosts Ghana and Nigeria, who missed out to Libya on the right to host the 2014 tournament.
The 2014 African Nations Cup has since been brought forward to 2013 to avoid clashing with the FIFA World Cup, while Libya and South Africa have swapped hosting rights for that tournament and the 2017 edition.
Zimbabwe has many old stadiums, such as the Zimbabwe National Sports Stadium (pictured top and below), in need of renovation or replacement, and having a major tournament would help to spur investment in that area.
Sports Minister David Coltart (pictured above) said: “We agreed that there is need for Government to invest in local football stadia around the country.
“We have set a goal to get an international tournament such as AFCON allocated to Zimbabwe to give Government something to work towards in the rehabilitation of our stadia.
“These recommendations will be refined in the next week or two and once the Ministry and ZIFA agree, it will be made public.
“Those resolutions which need to go to cabinet for endorsement will be taken there in a separate paper which will draw on our deliberations.”
ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze has confirmed that they are interested in bidding.
“Hosting would result in the improvement of our infrastructure and the profile of the country,” he said.
“We have always wanted to host one of the big tournaments.
“We are looking at AFCON 2019 but before that we will try for junior tournaments such as the Under-17 and Under-20.
“We have some old stadia in the country and the only way we can attract investment is through the hosting of major tournaments.”
Coltart and Mashingaidze were speaking after an event in Zimbabwe which brought together stakeholders to find a solution to ZIFA’s financial problems – the first meeting of its kind in local football.
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