By Brighton Chiseva
Masvingo City owned Mucheke Stadium which the local authority is targeting to upgrade to be able to host Premier Soccer League Matches is said to require a major facelift to be able to meet the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) standards.
According to council minutes of the health, housing and environmental services committee meeting dated May 16, 2024, Gladvern Investments and Consultancy Services, the consultancy company that was engaged by council to inspect the stadium established that there was need for major refurbishments.
“Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Housing and Social Services on the inspection report for Mucheke Stadium conducted in April 2024. It was reported that the inspection was meant to determine the improvements required so that it would meet the requirements of the ZIFA to host Premier League matches.
“The investigation report indicated that Mucheke Stadium required major refurbishment to meet the above standards,” read part of the minutes.
The minutes further stated that Bikita Minerals had shown interest in partnering Masvingo City Council in the facelift since it had a team in PSL.
“It was reported that Bikita Minerals had shown some interest in partnering with Council in the upgrading of the Stadium,” reads the minutes.
The committee resolved that the chamber secretary organize visits to Bikita Minerals as a way of strengthening the relations between the two organizations.
“It was proposed and agreed that Council should arrange a visit to Bikita Minerals as a way of strengthening relations
“Resolved to recommend that the Chamber Secretary be instructed to organize a visit to Bikita Minerals by Council as a way of strengthening relations,” read the minutes.
The upgrade of the stadium to host PSL matches could be beneficial to local football lovers as it will accord them a chance to watch PSL action which Bikita Minerals is currently taking out since there are no stadiums that meet the required standards.
If done Bikita Minerals FC which is currently hosting home matches in Sakubva Stadium, Mutare would use Mucheke Stadium.
The development would also promote local business as well as promoting junior soccer talent where junior players would be exposed to PSL action.
Masvingo City Mayor Councilor Alec Tabe earlier told TellZim News that their major plan as council was to refurbish Mucheke Stadium to meet ZIFA standards to draw Bikita Minerals to Masvingo for home matches bringing in business and investment to Masvingo Town.
“We are targeting to upgrade our stadium standards to meet international requirements because I know Masvingo people are football lovers, so we want to make sure they benefit from the sport as we now have a team from the province in the PSL.
“We now have a crisis in the province as Bikita Minerals FC which was promoted into PSL and was planning to use Gibbo Stadium in Triangle as its home ground is now using Sakubva in Mutare. It has therefore become our major concern to upgrade Mucheke Stadium in order to bring PSL to Masvingo,” said Tabe.
Tabe said council was planning to have a tour of other standard stadia in the country especially Harare’s Rufaro Stadium so they can get an appreciation of a state-of-the-art stadium being constructed there and learn one or two things that they will implement locally which they later did.
However, the stadia crisis was not only affecting local teams but the national team as well since the stadiums in the country do not match the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Federation of International Football (FIFA) standards.
Zimbabwe’s Warriors national soccer team is in the same predicament and has been hosting home matches outside the country having hosted one in Rwanda and its World Cup qualifier matches in South Africa.
