Sports development organisation World Wide Scholarships (WWS) has taken over as the majority shareholder in ailing Premier Soccer League side Blue Rangers.
The development which was unveiled at a Press conference in Harare yesterday will see the club rebranding to WWS Rangers.
The deal is expected to breathe a new lease of life into the club which was wallowing without a sponsor since the withdrawal of Blue Ribbon Foods as the main funder early this year. The club was known as Blue Ribbon Stars before the change to Blue Rangers.
They are at the basement of the Premiership log with just three points from nine games.
While declining to disclose the finer details of their stake in the club, WWS president Munyaradzi Maraire said they had taken over the standard expenses of the club that include meeting players salaries, winning bonuses, accommodation and transport for away matches.
WWS has come as the majority shareholder in the club with other corporate partners coming on board. We discussed this partnership with four Premiership teams, but we finally settled for Rangers who are regarded as underdogs, said Maraire.
WWS close links with Italian football giants AC Milan could see improvements in the fortunes of the club.
The organisation, which also has connections with clubs in America, Germany and France, last year hosted the AC Milan junior camp in Harare where the Italian clubs scouts were in the country for junior football coaching programmes.
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AC Milan trainers are coming here in August for a training camp with our team as we are looking for world domination. In three years time we are eyeing at having AC Milan coming here to Zimbabwe to play with us and we hope that would happen, said Maraire.
Rangers captain Nyasha Chazika hailed the move as a step towards vacating the relegation zone and moulding the club into a dominant force in local football.
This is a good development and all the players are happy about it. Before this deal there was no motivation for the players and morale was very low. But now we just hope everyone would give 100% effort in all our games to place ourselves in a better position in local football, Chazika said.
Rangers recently rehired coach Misheck Chidzambwa who has roped in Masimba Dinyero as his assistant.
Although Chidzambwa was not forthcoming about his plans after the coming-in of new sponsors, he could go on a player-hunting mission when the mid-season transfer window opens next month.
