THE Masvingo City Council has set its sights on the face-lifting of Mucheke Stadium to meet Zifa and Caf standards so as to bring Premier Soccer League football back to the city.
Mucheke Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Masvingo, which used to serve as home ground for former PSL giants Masvingo United before their relegation from the top flight.
The stadium is now the home ground for division one teams; Masvingo United and FC Wangu Mazodze.
The stadium falls short of meeting the minimum standards of a good stadium for top flight league games and has a lot of grey areas that need attention.
The city council inspected the stadium to see all the areas that need revamping.
In an interview with the Masvingo City Council public relations officer, Ashleigh Jinjika she stated that renovations are set for this year.
"Renovations of Mucheke Stadium are expected to take off this year if the funds are permitting. We are renovating the stadium to meet the required standards by Zifa and Caf for PSL matches," she said.
The local authority took a tour of other stadiums so as to see what they should work towards.
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"We had a tour of Rufaro Stadium in Harare and had a knowledge sharing exercise with the City of Harare. It was a fruitful trip because we managed to get an understanding as well as an insight of how they got to do it," Jinjika stated.
In the meantime they are still coming up with designs.
"At the moment we are still deliberating on proposed designs and it's premature to talk about the costs at the moment. Once the design is approved then will be able to draw the budget. Our engineers are working tirelessly on the designs of the stadium. We hope soon will be done with the process and move forward," added Jinjika.
Masvingo City Council is going to fund the renovations even though they are also scouting for funds from the corporate world.
The renovation of the stadium will ensure that it meets international standards.
If the stadium is renovated, Mucheke Stadium will provide a home for newly promoted Bikita Minerals who are currently having to travel to Mutare to use Sakubva Stadium as their home ground.
The people of Masvingo have been starved of PSL matches since 2011 when Masvingo United was relegated and having PSL back to Masvingo will be an advantage as it will bring back business and investment in the city.
Mucheke Stadium has a capacity of 5 000.
