With Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams battling the riches of miners – Ngezi Platinum and FC Platinum – another headache for the not-so-affluent clubs has emerged, with the establishment of Manica Diamond FC.
BY Kevin Mapasure
Armed with the financial muscle of Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), the team, which will be playing in the Eastern Region Division One League next year, has already invaded the transfer market and intends to take some of the top-flight league’s best talents to the second-tier.
Luke Masomere has been entrusted to build a team, whose main brief is to gain promotion into the top-flight in 2019. Yesterday, the team conducted trials, where over 50 players tried their luck, among them notable names such as former Dynamos captain, Tawanda Muparati and Shabanie Mine striker and skipper, Farai Mupasiri.
A number of players, who were attached to teams in the top-flight this season were in attendance, vying to impress the self-styled Doctor of Football.
Masomere said that he has already spoken to a number of players in the top-flight, who were willing to play Division One football with the diamond miners.
He said they want to make their stay in Division One a brief one. The team is looking to sign at least 10 players from the top-flight.
“We have a lot of youngsters who are here,” Masomere said.
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“We already have the players that we think will form the core of the team in mind and we have spoken to some of them. But the trials are also important because we want to give the youngsters a chance. You never know, maybe we can get five good players here. We will also have trials in Mutare on Tuesday (tomorrow). Then we will consolidate what we would have got here and what we will pick from Mutare in a training camp between January 5 and 12.”
After the trials, they will invite seasoned players they hope to sign from the top-flight league to start preparing for the new season.
ZCDC supply chain executive, Newton Demba, who is spearheading the project, said they have put a modest budget to make sure that they attract good players.
Demba, however, said that they will not necessarily be the PSG of Zimbabwe, but will compete with the best.
“In Division One, we want to have a minimum to medium budget, which can help us get good and experienced players, who can take us to the Premier Soccer League in quick time,” he said.
“When we get into the Premier Soccer League, we will then increase and try to compete with the best teams. The coach has got a plan, he has talked to some seasoned players, whom we think will be able to accept our offers and join us. I think we will be able to offer something that is attractive, but what is important is that we don’t want to set wrong precedence in Division One and then we fail to sustain certain budgets, when we move up into the Premier Soccer League.”
Demba said the establishment of the club is part of ZCDC’s corporate social responsibility efforts.
“The football project is part of our social responsibility. We are covering other sectors such as health and education, sport is something that we had not done and we decided that we should have our own team.”
The mining company plans to renovate Sakubva Stadium, which the team will use as its home ground, to better standards, while a pre-season cup match with one of the top-flight teams is in the pipeline.
