Former Manchester City forward Benjani Mwaruwari has formally contested a ruling that prevents him from running for the presidency of Zimbabwe’s soccer federation.
Mwaruwari, who also had stints at Portsmouth, Sunderland, and Blackburn in the Premier League, submitted his nomination for the presidency of the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) last week. However, an ethics committee within the association excluded the 46-year-old from the list of eligible candidates for the upcoming elections in January, providing no immediate explanation for their decision.
In a letter addressed to ZIFA’s interim president, Lincoln Mutasa, Mwaruwari’s legal team expressed their client’s dissatisfaction with the committee’s ruling and announced plans to appeal. “Our client is aggrieved by your committee’s decision and he intends to appeal … without any further delay,” the lawyers stated. They also requested a written explanation detailing why Mwaruwari was deemed ineligible according to ZIFA’s statutes.
Since July 2023, Zimbabwe has been operating under a FIFA-appointed normalization committee following the lifting of a 17-month international ban due to government interference in soccer. A new executive is set to be elected in late January.
Mwaruwari is not the only candidate facing challenges; another potential ZIFA presidential contender, the controversial church leader Walter Magaya, has also been barred by the ethics committee. Magaya is the founder of Yadah FC, a club in Zimbabwe’s top soccer league.
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