The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) has indefinitely suspended almost 70 footballers implicated in a string of match fixing scandals, now referred to Asiagate.

Zifa had been called upon to take decisive action on the 67 footballers who were allegedly involved in the match fixing scandals in the Far East, hence earning the name Asiagate, but the association was accused of dragging its feet.

The development deals a body blow to southern African football, as the region was already struggling compared to other African sub regions.

Already two of the region's three teams at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, have been knocked off.

Most of the suspended footballers are based in neighbouring South Africa and constitute the core of Zimbabwe's national football team.

After months of haggling, the Zifa board took the unprecedented action at a board meeting at the weekend.

The full list of the suspended players is yet to be released, but the most prominent victims of the purge include former captain Method Mwanjali, Thomas Sweswe, Nyasha Mushekwi and Khama Billiat who all play in South Africa.

Mushekwi has recently been linked to English premier league outfit, Fulham.



They join three board members, who are already suspended pending further investigations into their alleged involvement.



In a brief statement on Monday, Zifa chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze said: "The ZIFA board has resolved that all players implicated in the match-fixing scandal must not be included in the national team matches from now onwards".



Last year, the country's football governing body set up a seven-member committee to investigate match-fixing allegations involving the national team and alleged Asian betting syndicates over a period spanning four years.



Allegations of match-fixing by Zimbabwean players and administrators date back to 2004 following a number of tours to Asia.



A report Zifa released last year names about 80 players and a number of administrators in the scam.



A host of national team players were accused of receiving huge amounts of money to throw matches in favour of an Asian betting syndicate.



Former Zifa Chief Executive Officer, Henrietta Rushwaya was fired for sanctioning the much maligned trips to Asia, where Zimbabwe lost heavily to lowly ranked football nations like Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.



A local team Monomotapa went to Malaysia, where they masqueraded as the national team.