(Last Updated on October 4, 2015 by Editor)
ZIMBABWE – Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) president Cuthbert Dube has resigned ahead of a meeting where he faced a vote of no confidence.
Dube had been in charge for five years, during which time Zifa’s debt rose to around $6m and national teams repeatedly struggled to fulfil away assignments due to a lack of funds.
He quit late on Friday, ahead of a Zifa extraordinary general meeting set for Saturday, with four representatives from Fifa and Caf in the country to oversee the vote.
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“ I will leave office with my head high in view of the Goal Project legacy I have left”
Cuthbert Dube
In a statement, Dube said that he would remain as Zifa president until 5 December when elections will be held.
Despite Dube’s announcement, the no-confidence vote went ahead with 51 of the 54 members voting to remove Dube immediately.
Dube has used his personal funds to assist national teams on many occasions, but his detractors say that this is a sign that Zifa lacks sound financial structures.
Zimbabwe was excluded from the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
because of a failure to settle a $67,000 debt with former coach Valinhos, and there is a threat of a ban from the 2022 qualifiers as another former coach, Tom Saintfiet, has approached Fifa after taking legal action over money owed by Zifa.
“While I have been a subject of humiliation over the past few years, I will leave office with my head high in view of the Goal Project legacy I have left,” said Dube.
“It is common cause that I am the only Zifa president that presided over a Goal Project and saw it to its completion.
“A good number of national team assignments would not have been fulfilled without commitment of my personal resources and assets.”
The Zifa Assembly passed a no-confidence vote on Dube earlier this year, but he successfully argued that the process was unconstitutional.
This time he decided that his position was untenable.