Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) president Nqobile Magwizi has called for stronger partnerships between government, corporate players and sporting bodies to address the country’s chronic stadium infrastructure crisis, saying the national federation cannot shoulder the burden alone.
Responding to questions at the launch of Afro Sports Tourism in Harare recently, the Zifa boss underscored the need for collaboration on big-ticket developments such as stadium upgrades and supporting transport infrastructure.
“We must work closely with our governments and corporate partners so that some of the missions we have can be achieved through shared responsibility,” he said.
“Globally, infrastructure — your stadium, the roads and trains leading to the facility, the airports that bring people — is generally a government-driven investment.”
He said while sports associations are independent, they have a duty to lobby for national support, especially when projects benefit national teams and the wider sporting public.
“Our responsibility is to lobby as hard as we can so that the urgency of having stadiums available for our national teams is realised by all parties involved,” he said.
Magzwizi admitted that the association lacks the financial muscle to independently build or refurbish facilities, revealing their annual budget is just US$1,2 million, which must cover all operational costs, national team travel, salaries and development programmes.
“That US$1,2 million must cover salaries, fitness and coaching programmes, national team trips to Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Malawi and Namibia. If you do the maths, it’s not enough,” he said.
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He contrasted Zimbabwe’s financial struggles with the model in countries such as Germany, where governments allocate around US$300 million to support sports associations.
“We need the equivalent here. Just for administration alone, some countries spend US$30 million,” he said.
“So, we need support.”
He said partnerships and lobbying were now critical to ensuring Zimbabwe secures modern match-ready stadiums and meets international hosting standards.
“We must continue to speak about our needs and ensure stakeholders understand the pain we are going through.
“We are hoping that next year we could have that data and be able to move forward with the ministry.”
