TWINE PHIRI, the PSL chairman, has hailed the three clubs who represented the country in the Champions League and Confederation Cup at the weekend as shining ambassadors of a Premiership whose brand was growing in leaps and bounds.

The Harare businessman watched the Confederation Cup tie between Motor Action and Black Leopards in Polokwane on Saturday before making a road trip to Swaziland for the Champions League match between FC Platinum and Green Mamba the following day.

Phiri was accompanied on both trips by PSL board member, Cuthbert Chitima, and the league’s legal advisor, Tinofara Hove.

A successful weekend for the Zimbabwean teams on the continent saw FC Platinum announce their arrival in the Champions League in style with an impressive 4-2 away victory over Green Mamba at the Somhlolo Stadium in Swaziland.

Hwange, also making their maiden appearance in the Confederation Cup, thrashed Jamhuri 3-0 in Zanzibar while Motor Action held Black Leopards 1-1 at the Peter Mokaba in Polokwane in the same tournament.

Harare giants, Dynamos, the fourth Zimbabwean team taking part in the Caf inter-club competitions, will only join the party in the first round of the Champions League because of their status as one of the top clubs on the continent.

Phiri, who has been at the helm of the PSL for the past two years, said the impressive results by the Zimbabwean teams at the weekend were cause for celebrations in the corridors of power in the domestic Premiership.

“As PSL we are very happy that our three representatives in the Caf competitions at the weekend all came out of their battles with very good results,” said Phiri.

“We salute the players for their heroic efforts in not only representing the league with distinction but also representing the country with honour in the matches they played.

“We also salute the clubs’ management for their grand efforts in trying to build strong teams that can compete very well in such tournaments and, also, all the sponsors who played a part in ensuring that the teams had the financial resources to travel to their matches.

“It’s good for us, as the PSL, when our clubs can go out there and post such impressive results because it tells a story about how competitive we are as a league.

“When you consider that Hwange were playing in the Confederation Cup for the first time and FC Platinum were also playing in the Champions League, for the first time, you can appreciate the special nature of their achievements at the weekend.”

The PSL boss said competition in the Caf inter-club tournaments was getting tougher, with each passing year, which put into context the special nature of the results achieved by the local clubs at the weekend.

South African giants, Orlando Pirates, crashed to a humiliating 1-3 home defeat at the hands of Recreativo do Libodo of Angola in a Champions League preliminary round, first leg tie.

The Soweto giants, who won the tournament in 1995, were embarrassed in their backyard and now face a mountain to climb to overturn the deficit in Angola and progress to the next round.

Phiri said the fact that local clubs can still go to South Africa and compete against their counterparts, despite a sponsorship playing field that was not level and tilted heavily in favour of the clubs from the Rainbow Nation, was a grand achievement on its own.

“When you look at a club like Orlando Pirates and all that it has in terms of sponsorship and the calibre of players it can buy and the quality of foreign coaches it can hire, and realise that they were beaten at home in the Champions League, it should tell you that competition is really fierce in these tournaments,” said Phiri.

“So, for us, it means a lot when our three clubs can all go out there and come back with very good results.

“It shows that we have quality players who can compete with some of the best that can be found in Africa and we also have coaches who are technically good and are taking these clubs forward.

“If we had the sponsorship packages that are found in the other leagues, I believe that with the quality of players that we have and the coaches that are in charge of our clubs, we could really be talking about winning these competitions.”

Phiri said there was still a lot that the domestic Premiership could do, in terms of improving its brand, but they were happy that they were moving forward instead of backwards.

“We still have our challenges, no doubt about that, and we have goals that we have yet to meet as a league but the good thing is that we are moving in the right direction,” said Phiri.

“Everything cannot fall into shape at once but we are seeing something good that is being built and it’s all coming out of the combined efforts of everyone in the league – the fans, the players, the club administrators, the league’s officials and our sponsors.

“We have some big ideas for our league but here and there we have to clear some big hurdles and one of our big projects remains our quest to partner SuperSport and, hopefully, everything will be fine soon.”

Phiri paid special tribute to Mbada Diamonds for coming on board the Mighty Bulls’ Confederation Cup roadshow.

“There is no doubt that Mbada Diamonds have demonstrated their commitment to be a true partner to our football and we salute them for that because their package to Motor Action meant a lot to the team and the players and their coaching staff,” said Phiri.

“To their credit, Motor Action also battled well because they knew they had a sponsor who was backing their project and, a good result in that match, was important because it sent a message that the sponsors were not pouring their money down the drain.”