ZIFA and Yadah are headed for a nasty clash over the state of the Heart Stadium which the national association said cannot be sanctioned to host international football matches as it does not meet the required standards.
The football mother body this week said Heart Stadium was falling short of expected standards after it was suggested by Premier Soccer League chairman Farai Jere that ZIFA could have engaged CAF to get the venue homologated for the upcoming CAF interclub competitions.
Ngezi Platinum and Dynamos are representing the nation in the Champions League and Confederation Cup on foreign soil due to the unavailability of approved stadiums.
However, ZIFA said the stadium that was developed by Walter Magaya and opened by President Mnangagwa in December last year cannot host international matches.
"The Zimbabwe Football Association wishes to address the recent misleading reports regarding the status of Heart Stadium and its capability to host Ngezi Platinum Stars' and Dynamos FC's preliminary fixtures in their respective CAF competitions," read part of the ZIFA statement.
"The Association would like to clarify that all necessary procedures were meticulously followed by the Club Licencing Department, by CAF directives, to try and assist the clubs to play their home games in Zimbabwe.
"However, during preliminary inspections, Heart Stadium was unable to produce a Stadium Safety and Security Certificate as required by the process. Consequently, the facility could not be sanctioned.
"Additionally, the stadium lacks a media tribune, a designated area for vulnerable people, and its ablution facilities do not meet the required standards. We trust this statement clarifies the situation and rectifies any misinformation that has been circulating." Yadah responded to the statement through their lawyers yesterday and demanded that ZIFA retract the statement or face a defamation suit to the tune of US$1 million. Through their lawyer Admire Rubaya of Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners, and addressed to ZIFA Normalisation Committee chairman Lincoln Mutasa, Yadah refuted concerns noted by ZIFA on Heart Stadium.
Rubaya said ZIFA never conducted preliminary inspections on Heart Stadium.
"Our client instructs that it never received any formal request from ZIFA regarding the alleged preliminary inspection.
"Furthermore, it challenges you to provide the nation with that request as well as the invitation and /or confirmation from the Heart Stadium administration authorising you to visit his state-of-the-art stadium for the preliminary inspections.
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"If you do not produce the same, it simply means that you have misled our football-loving nation. One wonders why you would stoop so low for purposes of claiming that you had done preliminary inspections, yet none have been conducted.
"Our client contends that you have an insatiable appetite to destroy our client's reputation in circumstances where your role is to administer Zimbabwean football to be world-class.
"It is further perplexing that you claim that our client's stadium lacks a media tribune yet journalists from all the media houses have never lodged any complaint regarding that. "You should also know that ZTN streams live most of the matches which are played from the Heart Stadium and the commentators will be performing their duties without any challenges. "It is only that you(Mutasa) would never know this because like you said you have never physically attended a football match from any stadium in this country like you said before the Parliamentary Committee on Sport.
"It is unfortunate that you want to gather information based on rumors from social media which might be very misleading.
"You are encouraged to take a step back and do a self-introspection as to whether or not your press release was justified or called for," wrote Rubaya
