Friendly match in honour of Zimbabwe president cancelled over wedding

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa [PHOTO: COURTESY]

A friendly match between Zimbabwe and Zambia, which was to be played in honour of Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa was called off for lack of venue. Media reports from Zimbabwe reveal that Zimbabwean Football Association and Zambian football authorities had planned a friendly match between the Zimbabwean Warriors and Zambia’s Chipolopolo in what is termed as the Limpopo derby.

However, the match failed to take effect due to various reasons, which have so far been varying. A statement by the Zimbabwean Football Association indicated that the match was called off due to lack of National Sports Stadium, being that the eyed venue was already booked for a wedding.

Zambian authorities on the other side attributed the development to regulations put in place by world’s football governing body FIFA. The communications manager of Football Association of Zambia Desmond Katongo posted on his facebook page about the development. His post read in part:

"The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) wishes to inform members of the general public and the football family that the planned friendly match between Zambia and Zimbabwe has been canceled.”

"This was after the host nation through the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZFA) told FAZ that they were unable to host the match after FIFA informed them that the match was not going to be accorded international friendly status,”

The reason for having the match was however shifting from one thing to the next. Initially, it was said to be about honouring new Zimbabwean leader Emmerson Mnangagwa, then organizers stated that the derby would be about entertaining soccer fans in the festive season.

This comes after Zimbabwe pulled out of Cecafa Senior Challenge that just ended citing fears over insecurity.