BENZA TURNS DOWN ZIFA PRESIDENCY CALLS

HERENTALS owner Innocent Benza has confirmed receiving an array of calls to consider running for the ZIFA presidency in the upcoming elections slated for early next year. But he says he has decided to stay off the race which is expected to be oversubscribed with other potential candidates’ campaigns already in full throttle.

The much-awaited elections will be held upon the expiry of the ZIFA Normalisation Committee term in January next year. The NC and ZIFA congress have since prepared the ground after ratifying the new constitution which has since been adopted.

And Benza, a football administrator of repute is being touted by many as an ideal choice and he has been receiving incessant calls from the football fraternity to consider raising his hand up.

“Of late I have been receiving a lot of calls from stakeholders to consider running for the position. ZIFA presidency is something that I have not been thinking about. In fact I am ready to support whoever wants to go for it as long as they are competent and fit the required criteria.

“I think I love football enough and becoming its leader would have been very exciting especially with so much support from stakeholders who are making a lot of calls for me to become the ZIFA leader.

“I am really humbled to receive all those calls from key football people. It shows that, they have trust in me.

“I am not entirely ruling it out but for now I am choosing not to contest but I will support the right candidate for the post.”

Benza has become synonymous with records in the Zimbabwe football landscape and should he be elected, if in hindsight, he decides to run for it, he would have completed a remarkable cycle.

The 54-year-old first made history when he made his Premiership debut at the age of 46 when Herentals arrived in the elite class in 2018. Together with his son Tino, who has graced the Soccer Stars calendar in the previous two seasons, they became the first and remain the only father-son partnership to play and still playing in the top-flight.

He is currently the oldest professional footballer in Africa and his charming skills in the field of play are a regular enticer at the Students matches.

Benza has earned plaudits for his sound administration of the game as his Group of Colleges and Schools run a number of professional clubs. Besides the PSL team which reached the final of the Chibuku Super Cup in 2022 and gunning for top four in the league this year, Benza also owns Herentals U20 that plays in the Northern Region Soccer League as well as serial Women’s Soccer League champions Herentals Queens.

He runs four Herentals Division 2 teams as well in Harare, Rusape rural, Kadoma and Bulawayo on top of a vibrant academy that accommodates players from the age of four up to 20.

Benza, who is a legislator for Mutasa Central and a member of the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport has more than two decades experience in administering sport.

“I have been in football administration for close to 30 years and we have also been running other sports like cricket and we have regularly provided national team players.

“I hope to support the right candidate for the position based on different factors,” he added.

A number of people have expressed their interest and are also understood to be running for the ZIFA presidency including Walter Magaya, Richard Mazodze, Marshal Gore and Philemon Machana.