NEVER in the history of Zimbabwean football was it ever thought that the Premier Soccer League trophy would leave Harare and Bulawayo for, of all places, Shamva or the rural areas of Mhondoro-Ngezi.
The championship was the preserve of teams from Harare and Bulawayo, even though there were very strong teams from outside the big cities like Rio Tinto in Kadoma, Ziscosteel in Kwekwe and Gweru United in the Midlands capital.
In fact, the first Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League title was won by Bulawayo Rovers of Bulawayo, with Salisbury City of Harare finishing up as the runners-up in 1962.
During the pre-independence era, the only team outside Harare that won the title was St Paul’s Musami of Murewa in 1966, with Bulawayo Rovers, Salisbury Sables, State House Tornadoes, Metal Box, Arcadia United, Zimbabwe Saints, Dynamos, and Chibuku Shumba, all from Harare and Bulawayo, sharing the rest.
The win by St Paul’s in 1966 was the only time since topflight football was introduced in 1962 that the trophy left Harare before FC Platinum took it to Zvishavane in 2017.
Even Black Rhinos, who in 1984 broke the Dynamos and Highlanders stranglehold of the Super League championship after independence, were from Harare.
Zimbabwe Saints, the modest club who followed the Black Rhinos pathway by winning the championship in 1988 when powered by Ephraim Chawanda and George Ayibu, were from Bulawayo.
Even outsiders Monomotapa under Norman Mapeza in 2008, Gunners under Moses Chunga in 2009 and Motor Action under Joey Antipas in 2010, who surprised all and sundry by taking the title home, were all from Harare.
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Of the current generation, Antipas’ Chicken Inn, who defied all the odds to clinch the title in 2016, were and are also from Bulawayo.
Happily, though, that trend appears to be coming to an end with the emergence of exciting and strong teams from all the four corners of the country.
That long-standing Harare and Bulawayo dominance was broken in 2017 when Norman Mapeza and his FC Platinum boys took the trophy to Zvishavane and went on to win it for three years running from 2017 to 2019 before the club made it four in a row, this time, under Lizwe Sweswe in 2021.
This means that for the first time in Zimbabwean football history, the PSL trophy was not in Harare or Bulawayo for a massive four years.
In 2022, it was Ngezi Platinum’s turn under the coaching guidance of Takesure Chiragwi, who won the title and took the coveted trophy to the rural areas of Mhondoro-Ngezi
Last season, the trophy went to the small town of Shamva after Tonderai Ndiraya and his Simba Bhora boys swept to the crown, marking it the seventh year that the trophy has not been to either Harare or Bulawayo.
With Caps United, Dynamos, and Highlanders not at their best these days, Harare and Bulawayo’s best bet in 2025 appears to be in the hands of Scottland, but Mabviravira too need to be consistent.
However, events on the ground seem to strongly suggest that the trophy will not be in Harare or Bulawayo for another year, with MWOS of Norton, Simba Bhora of Shamva, and Ngezi Platinum Stars of Mhondoro-Ngezi, the favourites to lift the 2025 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title.
Surely, statistics and current form are clear that Harare and Bulawayo have lost their way around the corridors of football power and are no longer the gurus of Zimbabwean football.
*For your views, comments, and suggestions, mkariati@gmail.com or WhatsApp on 071 0774 596 or call on 0773 266 779.
