At a time when Zimbabwean football continues to struggle to attract corporate sponsorship, Midlands Province is betting on a revival of the game’s structures to win back companies that have become increasingly hesitant to invest in football.

Speaking to ZimNow after Chili FC beat Manyama FC 2-0 in the Sino-Zimbabwe Cup final at the Gweru Showgrounds during the Agriculture Show on Saturday, ZIFA Midlands Province Division Two Marketing Manager Isaac Mhere said companies had become increasingly difficult to attract because football had lost some of its appeal in recent years.

“It’s very difficult, you know. Football in Zimbabwe of recent has been very difficult to attract sponsors because the game was not attractive,” Mhere said.

He said the new ZIFA leadership was now working to restore the structures needed to make football more attractive to both supporters and potential sponsors.

“Now that with the new leadership at ZIFA, they are restructuring everything, and soccer is now getting back to its original status,” Mhere said.

According to Mhere, the rebuilding exercise must start at the grassroots, with structures stretching from junior football and area zones to Division Three, Division Two and Division One.

“We expect that in the next two years, all the structures will be in place to enable soccer to start from grassroots. You know, soccer starts from grassroots, and we are doing everything we can to market the game to juniors and area zones, to Division 3, Division 2, Division 1,” he said.

Mhere believes that once those structures are functioning properly, corporate sponsorship will follow.

“Once the structures are in place and once football is running properly, sponsors will come in hordes. They will stampede over each other to come and sponsor football,” he said.

For now, ZIFA Midlands continues to rely heavily on committed partners such as Sino-Zimbabwe, which has maintained its support for the tournament for more than a decade.

Mhere expressed gratitude to the company for standing by Midlands football at a time when many other businesses have been reluctant to invest in the sport.

“We have Sino-Zimbabwe, we are very grateful for Sino. They have been with us for ages, since before 2010. They’ve been sponsoring this cup when all companies have been finding it difficult to sponsor football,” he said.

Sino-Zimbabwe sales representative Nqobile Mhlophe said the company’s decision to remain involved was driven by more than commercial interests.

He said supporting football was also a way of keeping young people engaged in positive activities while strengthening the company’s relationship with the community.

“What motivated us to support sport is threefold,” Mhlophe said.

“For starters, youth these days are engaging in many activities which are detrimental to them, things like drugs and the like. So we’re trying to take away youth from those kinds of activities.”

Mhlophe said sponsorship also provided the company with an opportunity to increase awareness of its products while giving back to the community that supports its business.

“The second reason is obviously a marketing perspective whereby we are trying to heighten awareness of our products and our company to the general public and to our customers,” he said.

“And then the third reason is basically to plough back to the community. Remember, it’s the same community that supports us and our product, and we’re here because of them.”

Sino-Zimbabwe contributed US$2,000 towards this year’s tournament and indicated that it intends to return next year with an even bigger package.

“We hope to come back next year, but with more sponsorship in terms of the prize money and any other related things. We will come back stronger next year, we can promise you that,” Mhlophe said.

The company’s continued commitment comes as Midlands football seeks to demonstrate that investment in the lower divisions can produce a pathway to professional football.

Mhlophe said the company itself was looking at eventually returning to the higher levels of the game after starting from the lower divisions.

“We want to chase back, to come back into the professional league. Obviously, we started in the lower leagues, but our ultimate aim is to then proceed and get promoted to higher leagues like Division One, which we were once in, and even the Premier League if our performance allows for that,” he said.

ZIFA Midlands Division Two chairman Pervious Mathe said the province was already making progress in creating a stronger football environment, pointing to the hosting of two tournaments in one season as a major milestone.

“We hosted two tournaments in one season, which is actually a milestone in football in Zimbabwe, and particularly in the Midlands Province, because this has never happened,” Mathe said.