Munetsi Becomes The First Zimbabwean Footballer To Speak Out On FIFA Ban
French-based Zimbabwe Warriors midfieder Nyasha MUNETSI became the first Zimbabwean footballer to publicly speak out on Zimbabwe’s recent suspension from international football by FIFA due to government interference.
The 25-year-old Stade Reims utility player, posted a thread to his twitter page to voice his concerns on the adverse effects of FIFA suspension as the country tries to recover from the two years of no activity due to COVID-19 pandemic.
“The ban on our national teams from international football and our local teams from international cup competitions is quite sad,” said the former Orlando Pirates midfieder
“Football has since evolved into a sport thats more than just a sport, many livelihoods now depend on it, its a source of hope during tough times.
Football is a uniting table where people with differences can sit together and feast at the spectacle we call the beautiful game.Its has been 2 years without any meaningful development on the local football scene due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result of that.
We stand to lose a young generation of talented footballers who now have to resort to other means of earning because football has been in limbo.
As we were now getting back into some sort of cautious normalcy as we try to emerge from the effects of COVID-19 in our football. ”
“And the decisions made will in fact pave a way for better running of our football,” said Munetsi.
FIFA suspended Zimbabwe alongside Kenya on the 24th of February for government interference.
Zimbabwe’s suspension came after the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) disbanded the ZIFA board on 16 November 2021 on the allegations of corruption and women abuse.
FIFA is calling for the restoration of the suspended body for the association to regain their membership, but the SRC are adamant the body will not be returned.
Instead the SRC have appointed a normalization committee that is currently running football in the country pending elections of a new leadership in December.
FIFA Have been oflate accused of hypocrisy and double standards after bending their stutes to intervene in politics by throwing Russia out of international football because of their government’s invasion of Ukraine, but have failed to take the same moral stand to help other member associations.
Zimbabwe football loving people are all against the the corrupt and suspended ZIFA board and would want to see FIFA engaged with the country’s public authorities to help bring football back to normalcy.
