While the global credit crunch prompts Lord Triesman and Michel Platini to warn Premier League clubs against the perils of accumulating debt, those worried about their club’s finances should consider the plight of a side preparing for the biggest match in their history. Dynamos Harare, the champions of Zimbabwe, have no sponsorship, no training ground and not even a team bus yet on Friday they continue a remarkable journey when they play Coton Sport, of Cameroon, in the second leg of their African Champions League semi-final.

Dynamos trail 1-0 from the first leg at home but a run of stunning results including victories over Zamalek, the five-time winners from Egypt, and Etoile du Sahel, the reigning champions from Tunisia, has given the minnows the belief they can prevail against the odds.

“Playing at home is often more difficult because the crowd is quick to boo or whistle when the players make a mistake,” Nyika Chifamba, their team manager, said. “But away from home, the pressure is lifted. If we play as well as we can, I’ve no doubt we'll progress.”

That task might be difficult against Coton Sport, a side based in the city of Garoua in the arid and inhospitable north of Cameroon, who also defied expectations by winning their group and beating the highly fancied Enyimba, of Nigeria, 3-0 in their final group game. But Dynamos have already overcome several obstacles to reach this stage.

The troubles began in the second leg of the final qualifying round against Etoile du Sahel when the club could not afford to fly the team to Tunisia. They encountered the same problem before the group match away to Al Ahly, of Egypt, and on both occasions were saved by the contributions of fans, benefactors and a Government that is prepared to help keep alive the club's dream.

Finding the money to pay the players has also been a problem and they threatened to strike before the game at home to Zamalek in a row over unpaid bonuses. An agreement was reached only 24 hours before kick-off yet Dynamos regrouped and won 1-0 to qualify for the last four.

“In a way, because the odds are against us, we have an edge over opponents,” Murape Murape, the Dynamos captain, said. “When we went to Tunisia, the talk was about how much they would beat us by. People were expecting us to get thrashed. That makes you want to prove a point: that you are able to compete with the best. That has driven us to where we are now.”

Murape, the Zimbabwe Player of the Year, grew up in the Dynamos youth system and has played for them all his career but hopes that the exposure he has had in the African Champions League will earn him a transfer to a more lucrative league. For while the 28-year-old earns enough to support a family of five in a country where more than 80 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, he cannot afford a home or car and will struggle to set himself up in business once he retires from football.

Almost as influential in making him pine for a move abroad is the gulf in facilities he has seen between the Dynamos and Africa's other club champions this season. Whereas sides such as Etoile du Sahel benefit from enviable medical treatment and training facilities, Murape and his team-mates practise at a secondary school and are then left to prepare alone.

“The club cannot afford a physio or a gym,” Murape said. “It cannot help with your diet. If we want any of those things we must pay for them ourselves but players cannot afford to. The ground we train on isn’t watered properly, either, which means the possibility of getting injured is greater. And without proper medical facilities one injury here can mean it’s over for you.”

Critical to the club’s problems is a Zimbabwean economy that has the highest rate of inflation in the world – recent figures put it at a head-spinning 231,000,000 per cent – and where only an estimated 20 per cent of adults are employed.

As prices change by the hour and companies struggle to survive in a financial crisis that has accelerated far beyond the control of the Government, nobody has the spare capital to invest in a football club. The earnings from their success this season has helped Dynamos but Chifamba says only sponsorship will enable the club to set up the infrastructure it needs.

"We have junior teams, but the young talent in Zimbabwe is not being developed properly because we do not have the resources," he said. "Our players this season are likely to get scouted and move on. You can accept that if you have the facilities to develop new players, but we cannot even afford a clubhouse, a team bus and we struggle to buy new kit."

Incredibly, despite the financial pressures on the average Zimbabwean, Dynamos attract a sell-out 45,000 crowd for home games at the Rufaro Stadium, a loyalty that made some within the club call for an increase in the price of a ticket for their African Champions League games. One report claimed this was resolved when a mob of violent fans stormed the boardroom demanding that the prices remained stable, but Chifamba insists that the club would never exploit its support.

“We have had sell-out crowds for years, even when the club was fighting against relegation, so we would not desert them now,” he said. “With the situation the way it is in Zimbabwe, we play an important role. The players have remained strong as a group and brought joy into people’s lives. People are always telling us how much they appreciate what we have done.”

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