Zimbabwe’s new football site named Footballzone has moved in to take charge of the country’s local football content. According to its founders, the country’s live football news is not “easily accessible as local newspapers and TV stations cover only established leagues.”
Footballzone aims to cover all the local leagues and report news on players however “insignificant they may seem.”
The site was found early this year by Godwin Thierry Chiparaushe and Gift Gana, both recent graduates from Zimbabwe’s National University of Science and Technology (NUST).
Chiparaushe told HumanIPO they developed the site because of their passion for football.
The lack of local content also drove them to dive into tech entrepreneurship quickly, they said.
“We want to introduce professionalism in local football in Zimbabwe,” Chiparaushe said.
His passion to uplift football in the country also comes in line with his hobby. Godwin wanted to become a professional footballer for long and even did trials with several local teams but he could not play because of his university engagements.
The site has 5 reporters who follow different local leagues and cover the matches for Footballzone: two reporters are based in Harare, two in Bulawayo and one in Gweru.
Footballzone seeks to add more reporters on the team to cover the increasing demand for local content for the eight matches played each weekend on the PSL league.
The site, built on Joomla, has real-time commentary on Facebook. It allows updates at intervals of 10 minutes. Full match reports are uploaded hourly although the founders say they are developing more live features.
As the team moves in on football coverage, its comments that it is not an easy task. The founders say they haven’t finalised developing their system and still see several possibilities even with the pressing challenges.
Covering all the matches is still not easy as it needs manpower which requires funds, Chiparushe explained to HumanIPO.
“It’s been exciting watching the uptake of our brand, but lack of capital has hindered us a lot. We have not even scratched the surface of what we want to do.”
The startup’s upcoming live interactive feature will also allow continuous reader commentary via sms, email or through social networks has not been easy to develop. The feature will also show match previews, quick reviews or facebook feeds and news headlines to reader’s inbox though subscription.
The startup also wants to set up a fanzone to allow readers download posters, wallpapers and fixtures.
With own savings, the founders are surely but slowly gaining popularity although they say it’s not sufficient to attract advertisers.
