the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) has chosen Rufaro Stadium, as the venue for Sunday’s 2017 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier between the Warriors and Malawi, as the association looks to cash in on the match, hiking gate charges to between $5 and $50.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
Zifa’s move has been designed to attempt to break even in an environment where corporate support for football is almost non-existent.
The Warriors played their last match against Swaziland at the National Sports Stadium on Easter Monday, but the association was left in the red after paying service providers from a gross of $92 009.
Zifa board member Philemon Machana said 28 063 fans paid their way into the stadium for that match, culminating in a total of $92 009, while an additional $3 660 was realised from the association’s other revenue collecting activities such as parking, vending and sale of beverages at the stadium.
Players were given $40 000 to share from that total, while the rest was gobbled by matchday-related expenses that included levies, stadium hire and security, among other things.
The previous tie against Guinea at Rufaro saw the football federation, then under the leadership of Cuthbert Dube, grossing $88 542 after selling 25 733 tickets, with expenditure totalling $101 023, resulting in a loss of $12 481.
Machana said they had hiked gate charges for the match against Malawi with the rest of ground ticket pegged at $5, VIP $10 with those wishing to watch the match from the VVIP set to fork out $50. In the previous match at the National Sports Stadium, the gate charges were pegged at $3, $5 and $20 respectively.
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Machana said they hoped to become self-sustainable and be able to fund operational costs from the gate takings.
He said they were expecting to gross around $170 000 on Sunday.
“We have realised we are not getting much support from the corporate due to harsh economic conditions being experienced in the country,” he said.
“Corporate social responsibility has become a luxury, so we must be self-sustainable in order to be able to fund operational costs. We have moved the match to the more central Rufaro and hiked the gate charges to try and break even.
“Rufaro is more central and we are targeting fans who are close to the stadium as well. Most of these supporters will not pay money for transport because of their proximity to Rufaro. We also expect business executives to come and watch the match and we anticipate around 30 000 paying fans, which we think will help us break even.”
The Warriors play Uganda in an international friendly at Rufaro this afternoon and Machana said they didn’t want to burden the supporters ahead of the big clash against Malawi, pegging the rest of ground ticket at this match at $1, upper grand stand $3 and $10 VIP.
The Warriors can qualify for the Afcon finals for the first time since 2006 if they beat Malawi and Guinea fails to beat Swaziland this weekend.
Coach Kalisto Pasuwa’s men can also qualify as Group L winners if they beat Malawi at home and force a draw in Conakry in their last match on September 3.
The Warriors also stand a chance of qualifying as the best runners-up.
