BancEASY director Desmund Ali has lauded the Christian Soccer League saying the abundance of talent in the social leagues could make a mockery of football standards in the top flight league.

Ali, who heads BancEasy, a subsidiary of BancABC, made the remarks during the Christian Soccer League tournament at Belgravia Sports Club on Saturday.

The tournament saw Harare Evangelical Church beat Faith Ministries Mbare 9-8 in a hotly-contested penalty shoot-out after the match ended goalless.

“I don’t think you can see some of the penalties taken today even in the Premiership,” said Ali, who also owns Division Two side Ali Sundowns.

“It was brilliant. Sadly we can only have won winner. But the level competition here was really impressive.”

Eight teams drawn from various sects of the Christian community battled for honours at the tournament that was backed by BancABC.

The tournament came after the Christian Soccer League which ended a fortnight ago in which Faith Ministries Mbare won the title after amassing 56 points from 23 games.

Faith Ministries were in a class of their own, winning 17 games, drawing five and losing just once.

Mount Hope finished second with 53 points whilst Heartfelt International closed in third place a further point adrift.

Some of the churches that took part in the league include New Life Covenant Church, Word of Life International Ministry, Harare Evangelical church, Zaoga, Faith Ministries, Flames Church amongst others.

League chairman Tichawanda Chihwayi said the league was looking to attract more teams from areas beyond Harare.

“At the moment all the teams taking part are from Harare but our plans are to go outside Harare,” he said.

“We started this imitative as way to fellowship. It is also a good platform for talent to be identified. That is why we have invited former footballers. So far the league has no sponsors but we want to thank BancABC for coming on board for this tournament.”