The Government has reacted to a decision by FIFA not to dissolve the entire Zifa board and replace it with a normalisation committee.

The Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) had written to the world football body two weeks ago, accusing ZIFA of mismanaging their finances.

Speaking to the Chronicle on Friday, Minister of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation Kirsty Coventry said the Government has welcomed FIFA’s response and they are prepared to work with relevant bodies including Zifa to move the local game forward.

“That is a step in the right direction,” said Coventry.

“The thing that I took from the Fifa letter was that they are willing to work with Zifa, willing to work with the SRC, willing to work with the Government and for me I think that was very positive because they understand that there is work that needs to be done.

“Even though they are not putting in the normalisation committee, they have said that they are working with Zifa, they want to work with us in terms of moving soccer forward and that is a step in the right direction.”