{"id":69774,"date":"2022-11-20T17:05:15","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T15:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/football-stakeholders-criticise-council-over-rufaro-stadium-deal-collapse"},"modified":"2022-11-20T19:45:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T17:45:38","slug":"football-stakeholders-criticise-council-over-rufaro-stadium-deal-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/football-stakeholders-criticise-council-over-rufaro-stadium-deal-collapse","title":{"rendered":"Football Stakeholders Criticise Council Over Rufaro Stadium Deal Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>Football stakeholders have criticised the opposition-dominated City of Harare for \u201cdragging politics into sport\u201d after Sakunda Holdings, a company owned by a ZANU PF benefactor Kuda Tagwirei, formally withdrew its proposal to upgrade Rufaro Stadium, the so-called ceremonial home of football.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) interim president Gift Banda, who is coincidentally a former deputy mayor of the City of Bulawayo, accused the Harare City Council of letting politics get in the way of football. Said, Banda:<\/p>\n

What Sakunda had done was the right way. There is nothing political in sport. Politics should not be dragged into sport and football in particular.<\/p>\n

Sakunda would have helped us to get Rufaro to become a CAF and FIFA-accepted stadium. \u201cIn any case, how much revenue is Harare City making at the moment from that stadium vis-a\u0300-vis what they are spending on maintenance?<\/p>\n

City of Harare was supposed to try and assist in coming up with a solid contract that was beneficial to everyone and not close out a corporate that is trying to assist.<\/p>\n

Rufaro has been condemned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the stadium last hosted Premiership matches in 2019.<\/p>\n

Premier Soccer League (PSL) chairperson Farai Jere argued that the refurbishment of Rufaro Stadium would have benefited local football in the long run. He said:<\/p>\n

This was a very important investment in football and it was going to benefit generations to come, and this is something we need to look at from that perspective.<\/p>\n

Northern Region Soccer League (NRSL) Division One chairperson Martin Kweza also expressed disappointment over Sakunda\u2019s withdrawal from the partnership with Harare City Council. Said Kweza:<\/p>\n

I am heartbroken, to say the least. I was already envisaging a new Rufaro in the mould of FNB Stadium (South Africa\u2019s World Cup stadium) on completion.<\/p>\n

I could see the appetite of football people to come back to the home of football, particularly when we hosted the Axis Super 8 cup final.<\/p>\n

A refurbished Rufaro was going to bring a new dawn for Zimbabwean football, and now this?<\/p>\n

I sincerely hope the two parties will find each other and resolve the issues currently obtaining for the sake of Rufaro Stadium, the rich history that it carries and soccer-loving Zimbabweans.<\/p>\n

Sakunda cited \u201ctoxicity\u201d in Harare City Council\u2019s attitude as the reason for walking away from the deal.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Football stakeholders have criticised the opposition-dominated City of Harare for \u201cdragging politics into sport\u201d after Sakunda Holdings, a company owned by a ZANU PF benefactor Kuda Tagwirei, formally withdrew its proposal to upgrade Rufaro Stadium, the so-called ceremonial home of football. Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) interim president Gift Banda, who is coincidentally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":69772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[1493,2189,852,560,816,3635,392,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-69774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-sport","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-harare-city-council","12":"tag-psl","13":"tag-rufaro-stadium","14":"tag-sakunda-holdings","15":"tag-zifa","16":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nFootball Stakeholders Criticise Council Over Rufaro Stadium Deal Collapse - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Football stakeholders have criticised the opposition-dominated City of Harare for \u201cdragging politics into sport\u201d after S ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/football-stakeholders-criticise-council-over-rufaro-stadium-deal-collapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Football Stakeholders Criticise Council Over Rufaro Stadium Deal Collapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Football stakeholders have criticised the opposition-dominated City of Harare for \u201cdragging politics into sport\u201d after S ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/football-stakeholders-criticise-council-over-rufaro-stadium-deal-collapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-20T15:05:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-20T17:45:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668951354.83.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1040\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"584\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/football-stakeholders-criticise-council-over-rufaro-stadium-deal-collapse\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/football-stakeholders-criticise-council-over-rufaro-stadium-deal-collapse\",\"name\":\"Football Stakeholders Criticise Council Over Rufaro Stadium Deal Collapse - 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