FIFA is sending its anti-corruption chief to Zimbabwe next week, but the international football governing body insists ZIFA will determine sanctions against officials and players implicated in match fixing.
ZIFA vice president Ndumiso Gumede says the anti-corruption unit, led by FIFA's head of security Chris Eaton, will arrive on June 30 to meet with Zimbabwean investigators "in an effort to bring this issue to finality."
Zimbabwe could lose a number of national team players to lifetime bans after they admitted last year to taking money to lose games on tours to Asia, some as far back as 2007.
Wilson Raj Perumal of Singapore, who is now on trial for match-fixing in Finland, is also suspected of manipulating the Zimbabwe matches with the help of bent ZIFA officials.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who has previously called for the corrupt players and officials to be banned, wrote to ZIFA this week insisting FIFA was deferring to local football bosses to hand down sanctions.
The move could be a boon for the affected players and officials who will now be expecting lesser punishment.
In his letter to ZIFA, Valcke said: "Firstly, we would like to thank you for your efforts and your very valuable cooperation in the fight against match fixing, which indeed requires the involvement of all football stakeholders.
"In continuation, we wish to inform you that whereas our services will be happy to provide advice regarding the on-going disciplinary process, we regret to inform you that we will not be in a position to take over the full disciplinary process your organs initiated.
"However ... we would like to point out that the FIFA security department can assist you, if need be, in some aspect of the investigation.”
Eaton, who visited Malaysia last month, is expected to share with ZIFA part of his findings. Financial constraints prevented ZIFA officials from flying to Asia to tie up their investigations.
Gumede, who was leading the match fixing probe, said it was important that the matter be brought to finality so that Zimbabwe focuses on qualification for the Nations Cup finals to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year.
Several Zimbabwean players confessed during interviews with Gumede’s probe team that they were paid to lose matches during tours of Asia by the senior national team in 2008 and 2009 and Valcke had been quoted as saying the players involved should be banned from football.
"If someone has confessed then this person should not be playing anymore," he told BBC Sport earlier this year.
Players who are fretting over their careers include stars such as Method Mwanjali, Nyasha Mushekwi, Washington Arubi, David Kutyauripo, Guthrie Zhokinyi, Daniel Veremu, Cuthbert Malajila, Benjamin Marere, Mthulisi Maphosa, Phillip Marufu, Willard Manyatera and Zephaniah Ngodzo.
Coaches who are in the frame include Sunday Chidzambwa, Joey Antipas, Emmanuel Nyahuma, Luke Masomere, Rodwell Dhlakama and Methembe Ndlovu.
But the biggest villains who have been damned in Gumede’s report are former ZIFA CEO Henrietta Rushwaya and the association's former programmes officer Jonathan Musavengana.
Gumede has expressed the view that the players were pawns in the corruption, and promised to look favourably at players who co-operated with the investigation.