Harare — The Zifa board's ambitious bid to turn around the fortunes of the domestic game received another boost yesterday when they met with visiting Libyan businessman Saadi Muammar Al-Ghaddafi to explore ways in which the North Africans' football association can assist Zimbabwe.

Ghaddafi, a former professional footballer, flew into the country on Thursday as a guest of the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality to identify business ventures in the country. The wealthy Libyan businessman, who played for Napoli, Sampdoria and Perugia in the Italian Serie A, remains passionate about football and has reportedly expressed a willingness to invest in the development of the game in the country.

Ghaddafi, in the company of Libyan embassy officials and Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi, met with Zifa president Cuthbert Dube and members of his board late yesterday amid revelations that the North Africans are also keen to help junior football and the women's game. Earlier in the day the Zifa board had met with German Ambassador to Zimbabwe Albrecht Conze, who expressed his country's support for the association and revealed plans to expedite the setting up of the Reinhard Fabisch academy in honour of the late former Warriors Dream Team mentor.

Dube also met with his Football Association of Zambia counterpart Kalusha Bwalya at the beginning of the week after which a Memorandum of Understanding was signed, which will pave the way for greater co-operation between the two associations and regular international friendlies between the two countries' national teams. Acting Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze reckoned that the domestic game was poised for growth following the yesterday's indaba between the Government, Zifa and the Libyans.

"In principle, the parties agreed on a working partnership pathway through the national teams and development projects and that kind of partnership will be quite big and unique in that it is an intra-Africa partnership. "In the past most partnerships have either been between America and Africa or Europe and Africa and we believe that, once unlocked, this kind of partnership should add value to the football in both countries," Mashingaidze said.

Mashingaidze said Zifa were also keen to utilise the government-to-government technical co-operation agreements that exist between Zimbabwe and various countries to ensure football benefits from such partnerships.

That the Libyans took time to meet with the Zifa board is a positive change from the worrying trend in which the football leadership had literally been marginalised on major issues that have an impact on the game.

The decision to sideline the Zifa board on Brazil's visit to Harare for a date against the Warriors at the National Sports Stadium as well as the proposed tour by Ghana's Black Stars next month have left questions hanging on their real benefit to the game.

However, the Dube board, also eager to speed up efforts to restore order in the domestic game, will convene for another special meeting in the capital today at which the Warriors' 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign is expected to feature prominently.

The Zifa leadership, worried about the ramifications on Zimbabwean football that Dynamos' failure to fulfil their Champions League assignment to Algeria, is also expected to discuss ways of assisting the troubled Harare giants.

Dynamos this week sent an SOS to the game's stakeholders appealing for assistance to fulfil their trip to Algiers for a Champions League Group A date against Entete Setif.

Dube had hinted on Monday that his board would have to meet more often until they restore order to the domestic game that has been facing a plethora of problems, chief among them the lack of corporate support for the country's biggest sport.

Allegations of betting and match fixing during the Warriors' controversial trips to Asia have also tainted the local game's image.

Zifa have since opened an inquiry into the Asian trips following the controversy torched by the Warriors' decision to defy an assembly and board resolution not to travel to Thailand and Syria on December 28 last year.

But with a lot of ground still to be covered on the issues afflicting the game, the board has had to meet more often as they begin to find their feet.

Dube and his board are also expected to discuss a raft of issues critical to the game including the efforts they are making as the game's leaders to help the Premiership find a sponsor.

The Warriors for whom caretaker coach Norman Mapeza named an enlarged 36-man squad are also expected to go into camp in Harare on Monday.

Zimbabwe will begin their bid for a place at the Nations Cup finals with a Group A away assignment to Liberia in Monrovia on the weekend of September 3-5.

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are the co-hosts of the 2012 Nations Cup finals and the Zifa board has insisted that qualification for the continental soccer showpiece is one of their major priorities.

The Warriors have also already qualified for the African Championships of Nations finals to be staged in Sudan early next year.

But it is the budget for the 2012 Nations Cup campaign and the general state of the Warriors preparedness that is listed high on the agenda of today's indaba.

Zifa have also set up various standing committees that should help with the administration of football in the country and today's indaba should also set the tone for next weekend's extraordinary meeting of the assembly.

The Zifa affiliates are expected to also present their budgetary requirements for the remainder of the year.

But it has also emerged that the board would have to deal with demands from the Sport and Recreation Commission for the association to submit an audit of the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup, hosted and won by Zimbabwe last year. Sports Commission director-general Charles Nhemachena last week wrote to Zifa seeking a report of the Cosafa tournament staged in Harare and Bulawayo in October last year, which the supreme sports body believes, is now long overdue.

"The Commission would like to take this opportunity to formally congratulate you for the successful hosting of the tournament in spite of the limited preparation period.

"A number of stakeholders (Government and other sponsors/donors) contributed resources that made the hosting of the tournament possible. The tenets of good corporate governance and in particular the principle of transparency dictate that an account of the use of such resources be given. In light of this we view the absence of relevant financial statements (income and expenditure) from your reports, as a significant omission needs to be rectified.

"Your are therefore requested to submit your income and expenditure statement relating to the Cosafa tournament. It would also be appreciated if you could furnish us with details of the bank account(s) operated to facilitate Cosafa transactions as we as details of the signatories of such account(s)," read part of Nhemachena's letter. It could be yet another marathon indaba as domestic football moves to tackles a host of challenges it is facing.