Saturday, 7 June 2025

ZIFA FAILS TO PAY TEAMS AGAIN

The story of Zimbabwe’s women’s football continues to unfold as a painful cycle of broken promises and shattered dreams. Authorities make pledges to support the players — only to fall short time and again.

It has now emerged that the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) has failed to pay the national Under-17 and Under-20 women’s teams for their participation in last month’s Cosafa and World Cup Qualifier tournaments, respectively.

The players are still owed camping allowances, participation fees, and tournament bonuses.

The Young Mighty Warriors represented Zimbabwe at the Cosafa U17 Girls Championship in South Africa, where they exited in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, the Under-20 team was eliminated from the Fifa World Cup Qualifiers after a 2–1 aggregate loss to Rwanda in Kigali.

Zifa’s failure to honour its obligations — without any official communication — has left players feeling dejected and betrayed.

“It is frustrating that we spend weeks in camp, then go to the tournament, only to return home empty-handed. Some of us have to support our families, while others are schoolchildren hoping to use that money to clear school debts. It’s sad when such things happen. Most people don’t understand what we go through and end up labelling us as disorganised,” said one player, who requested anonymity.

Clubs are equally disillusioned. They argue that Zifa has consistently failed to take women’s football seriously, contributing to the decline of what was once a regional powerhouse. Their frustration goes beyond unpaid allowances — it’s about years of neglect and systemic disregard for the players’ talent and commitment.

“We’re upset. We’ve lost faith in the association, and maybe next time, it’s better for clubs not to release players for national duty,” said one club representative. It’s proving not to be financially beneficial for our players to represent the country. The women’s game has suffered for a long time, and even the new executive hasn’t brought real solutions.”

Zifa CEO Yvonne Manwa promised to comment on the issue.

“I promise I will respond . . . today is close to the election nomination and we have the game in Morocco, so it’s a bit hectic,” she said. Herald

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