Premier Soccer League (PSL) club representatives are set to meet to deliberate over Zifa’s recent directive for the top-flight to relegate two teams and take up four, newly-appointed chairperson Keni Mubaiwa has said.
BY HENRY MHARA
Zifa last week reaffirmed its position to have four teams from the Division One leagues getting automatic promotion into the PSL, with two teams from the top-flight dropping to the second-tier leagues in an arrangement, where the elite league will be expanded from 16 to 18 teams.
The mother body’s position is against a resolution made last year by the two parties who agreed that only two teams would be promoted from the regions following a playoff involving the regional champions, while the bottom two in the PSL would be demoted.
Zifa’s stance is also against the PSL constitution, which provides for 16 teams.
Mubaiwa, who was appointed by Zifa president, Philip Chiyangwa, yesterday said he had called a meeting with all the clubs, so they could put finality to the matter.
He said he hoped the meeting could be convened at the weekend to deal with the urgent matter and by yesterday co-ordination of the proposed indaba had already begun.
“Our position was that two teams would be relegated and two promoted into the league. That was our position before and now we have to meet and discuss after Zifa’s statement. I’m in the process of contacting all the clubs so that we sit and come up with our position as PSL,” Mubaiwa, who is also Dynamos president, said.
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“We don’t want this situation to drag on as it has the potential to scare away sponsors,” he said, in apparent reference to the league’s sponsor Delta Beverages, who have asked the two parties to put their house in order before they can renew their sponsorship.
The PSL has previously maintained that it can only accommodate two teams from the Zifa regions, a stand that has caused strong seizures with their associate.
The league’s chairperson, Peter Dube and Caps board chairperson, Lewis Uriri were suspended as a consequence of the fight between the two parties, and with its chief executive officer, Kennedy Ndebele also in the firing line, he could soon follow suit.
In a statement last week, Zifa said four Division One regional champions would get automatic promotion into the top-flight, while the bottom two in the PSL would be demoted.
The Zifa congress last year agreed that two teams would go down, while the four Division One champions would participate in play-offs to determine two teams that would be promoted.
However, the Zifa councillors have gone against the agreed relegation format, demanding that four teams be automatically confirmed into the PSL.
There is an impasse on the matter, with the PSL approaching the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on November 22 seeking relief.
Zifa have since scoffed at the move by the PSL to take the matter to CAS, insisting that local channels had not been exhausted and that there was no dispute, since the topflight league clubs had lost a vote over the relegation and promotion issue.
As it stands, Black Rhinos from the Northern Region, Yadah FC from the Eastern Region, Bantu Rovers and Shabanie Mine, representing the Southern and the Central regions, respectively, stand to be promoted, while Border Strikers and Mutare City have been relegated.
All along, the PSL clubs have maintained that they cannot accommodate four clubs from Division One and they also cannot increase the league to 18 teams.
The PSL argues that increasing the number of teams from 16 has serious ramifications on the league, especially on cup competitions.
