Former Manchester City forward Benjani Mwaruwari on Tuesday challenged a ruling to block him from potentially becoming the new head of Zimbabwe’s soccer federation.
Benjani, who also played for Portsmouth, Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League, last week filed his nomination to become the next president of the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA).
However, an ethics committee of the association on Monday did not include the 46-year-old among those eligible to contest in next month’s elections, without immediately giving a reason.
Photo : AFP
“Our client is aggrieved by your committee’s decision and he intends to appeal ... without any further delay,” the player’s lawyers wrote to ZIFA’s interim boss Lincoln Mutasa.
“We are instructed by our client to humbly request that you urgently provide us with full written reasons why your committee concluded that Mr Benjani Mwaruwari fails to meet eligibility criteria stipulated in the ZIFA statutes,” they wrote.
Zimbabwe has been under a FIFA-appointed normalization committee since July last year when FIFA lifted the southern African country’s 17-month international ban caused by government interference.
A new executive is to be elected late next month.
Former Zimbabwe international Benjani still has a chance through an appeals committee.
Another prospective ZIFA president barred by the ethics committee is a controversial, but popular local cleric, Walter Magaya.
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