Marange to sponsor women's football. ZIMBABWE'S women football, revitalised by the resurgence of the Mighty Warriors, will have a flagship sponsor this week when their marriage with Marange Resources, is unveiled in the capital on Friday.

The mega sponsorship deal, with Marange Resources Private Limited, is expected to run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The big package will include a sponsorship deal for the Mighty Warriors, all the junior national teams and the national football league.

The arrival of the mining firm on the scene is yet another addition to a landscape that is dramatically changing as companies commit themselves to sponsoring the national game once again.

As of the beginning of last year, there was only one company that was sponsoring football in the country with BancABC being the last firm standing.

But the arrival of Delta Beverages, who committed themselves to a three-year deal as the flagship sponsors of the Premiership, has changed all that and opened the door for the arrival of more companies.

NetOne sponsored the season-opening Charity Shield last year and have undertaken to bankroll the tournament once again this year.

Mbada Diamonds injected more than US$1 million into the Mbada Diamonds Cup last season and today will unveil a sponsorship package to help Motor Action in their Caf Confederation Cup campaign.

The domestic game even attracted the interest of SuperSport with two of its biggest games being screened live on the pay-per-view television channel.

The Mbada Diamonds Cup final, featuring Dynamos and Motor Action, and the Premiership tie between the two Harare giants, were both screened live on SuperSport.

Although there were indications that a deal was set to be sealed for the domestic Premiership's matches to be beamed on SuperSport 9 this season, it appears a deal will only be concluded for next season.

A number of big local games, though, will continue to be screened live on SuperSport as part of the trial runs.

Analysts have credited the arrival of SuperSport, as a major sponsor of the Zambian Premier Division, to the resurgence of Chipolopolo who stunned the continent by winning the 2012 Nations Cup finals in Gabon on Sunday.

Zimbabwe football has been crying for a helping hand, from sponsors, and Zifa president Cuthbert Dube has been forced, on a number of occasions, to use his personal funds to finance some of the projects at the association.

Legendary Warriors' captain, Peter Ndlovu, said on Monday Zimbabwe had the potential to do as well as Zambia and all that was needed was for the game and its leaders to be supported financially.Crucially, things are changing.

Marange Resources, who financed the Mighty Warriors' African Women Championships first leg series against Botswana home and away, have decided to cement the relationship and partner the women's football brand.

The game's stock has risen tremendously in recent months and the Mighty Warriors have revived the old days when the team was competitive on the continental front.

Last year, the Mighty Warriors won the Cosafa Championship, with a stunning victory over South Africa, and also qualified for the All-Africa Games.

Currently, The Mighty Warriors are involved in the African Women Championships and are already in the last qualifying round after they beat neighbours Botswana 3-1 on aggregate last month.

Under the shrewd leadership of Mavis Gumbo, who has changed the face of the Mighty Warriors, women's football has enjoyed a tremendous boom in the past two years.

Gumbo inherited a discipline that was dormant but, in two short years, has helped breathe life into women's football with the Mighty Warriors even being invited to a training camp in Germany last year. The Zifa board member has been outstanding in her discharge of duties, usually leading by example, as she has put the interests of the game ahead of anything else and has been rewarded with a number of positive results on the field.

Now, even the sponsors have been charmed and are coming on board.Yesterday, Marange Resources officials could only confirm that they were set to unveil a deal with women's football but they were not at liberty to discuss the finer details of the package. Zifa officials were also not prepared to discuss the details of the package but confirmed that a deal was set to be unveiled on Friday.

The immediate beneficiaries of the deal will be the Zimbabwe Under-20 national team who would be playing in the World Cup qualifiers and kick-start their campaign this Sunday with a home tie against Mozambique.

The Young Mighty Warriors would be playing in the first round having received a bye in the preliminary round and have been in camp since last week.

They were in South Africa where they played Baby Banyana in a friendly match and were thrashed 4-0.

But the team, which has been going through their paces at Barclays Sports Club, is confident that they will do well against Mozambique.

Coach Langton Giwa has roped in some of the senior players who are still eligible for the age group.

Mighty Warriors' strikers Rudo Neshamba, Rutendo Makore and Rufaro Machingura, defenders Danai Bhobho and Eunice Chibanda and midfielder, Emmaculate Msipa, are in the team, which will battle against the neighbours at Rufaro.

Young Mighty Warriors assistant coach, Sithetheliwe "Kwinji 15" Sibanda, said the team has gelled and was ready for the tie.

"We have managed to work on the weaknesses we identified in South Africa and we have been working on them and gradually the team is coming up and we expect to play better this weekend," said Sibanda.

"The senior players have really beefed the squad and we expect them to lead the youngsters and uplift them in their first competition.

"We are looking for a win against Mozambique and we are under pressure playing at home and having to win at all costs.

"We have to win so that we carry a comfortable lead when we go there."We have a few knocks but all the players are fit and ready to meet Mozambique."

Mozambique are expected to arrive today as they are traveling by road and will come through the Forbes Border Post.