ZIFA aspiring presidential candidate Marshall Gore asserts that he has made significant contributions to Zimbabwean football, despite having spent part of his life in the United Kingdom.
Gore says his love for the Warriors and passion for the Zimbabwean game has seen him spend most of his time here in Zimbabwe travelling with the Warriors regularly since 2015.
He revealed that over the past year he has travelled with the Zimbabwean team to Rwanda, Uganda, and on a number of occasions to South Africa for Afcon and World Cup qualifiers.
"I spend most of my time here supporting our Academy, Power 11 football Academy in Ruwa and also travelling with the Zimbabwe national team on national duty," said Gore who was recently in South Africa supporting the Warriors against Kenya
The 49-year-old revealed that he will be contesting for the Zifa presidency in the Zifa board polls which have been set for January 25 by the Zifa normalisation committee who are running the elections.
Now based in the UK where he has some businesses, Gore believes he is the ideal candidate to lead Zimbabwean football and deliver total transformation
"I believe I am the solution to the problems our football is facing. I cannot do it alone but with me as the President, together, we will reach where we want to go," said Gore.
Others who have declared their interests in the Zifa presidency are Premier Soccer League chairman Farai Jere, former Member of Parliament for Norton Temba Mliswa, and businessman, Gilbert Muponda.
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However, the real deal will be revealed after December 10 when the Zifa normalisation committee closes nominations for all posts on offer and those hiding their intentions would be made public.
Word has been circulating that Prophet Walter Magaya, former PSL chairman Twine Phiri, Northern Region chairman Martin Kweza, and former Zifa vice president Philemon Machana are also interested.
The founder of the Team Zimbabwe UK, Gore says the project has yielded quicker results than he expected and at the current rate he believes the Warriors will reap huge pickings .
"I have managed to convince a lot of our UK based players to consider representing Zimbabwe at international level and they have taken the challenge with enthusiasm. Since I launched that project, we have qualified for three consecutive Afcon finals," said Gore.
He says the issue of talent is one that is at his heart promising that his intention is to revive Zimbabwe's junior football and wants it to be the feeder of talent to the Premiership and in the process build a strong national team.
"Botswana and Tanzania have qualified for Afcon from players from their own league, but our junior development programme is failing to feed our national team with that talent. We should be able to identify and nurture talent for the Premiership and also for export," said Gore.
He said he would also engage the government to financially support football adding that it was not that the government did not want to
The Zifa elections had initially been scheduled for January 18, but have been moved to January 25, giving those in the running another week to convince the electorate.
