HARARE – More Zimbabwean football fans watch the English Premier League than their domestic championship.
The local fans’ affinity with the EPL was on full display on Thursday when the English Premier League trophy went on display in Harare – although they were not allowed to touch it.
The trophy is on its latest leg of a worldwide tour to over 200 countries to mark the league’s 30th anniversary which came in 2022.
Former Zimbabwe captain Peter Ndlovu, the first African to play in the newly-formed English Premier League in 1992, accompanied the trophy which was paraded at Belgravia Sports Club.
“I just want to thank Castrol for bringing the wonderful trophy that everyone wants to play for. Everyone is thinking of playing in that league. We are appreciating what they have done, to bring the trophy to my country, to my people, and to me because I never got the chance to go near it,” Ndlovu said of the international lubricants supplier and one of the EPL’s sponsors.
“It is a big honour for me to be a part of this whole set-up. I played for a long time in this league and I never got near this trophy, we all know that. In short I am happy I have come close to it myself.”
The Premier League, sponsored by the banking group Barclays, transmits 380 games each season to 580 million households in more than 200 countries.
“We want to show what is the heart of our competition: the trophy itself, since it is so every player and coach competes to get their hands on; the fantastic football played by our 20 clubs, because that excites hundreds of millions every week, and the history and tradition of English football, as it helps create the huge interest in the competition,” the EPL said.
The trophy left Zimbabwe for Zambia.
