Building minds that grow football

Inside ZIFA – Nqobile Magwizi

ZIMBABWEAN football has spent decades suspended in a frustrating state of near arrival.

Always on the brink, always on the verge, always promising, but never quite crossing the line into true sustainability, professionalism and global respect.

We have become accustomed to the language of almost: almost competitive, almost structured, almost credible, almost stable.

Yet history is ruthless in one simple truth — no system is ever built on almost. Progress is forged by clarity of purpose, courage of leadership and the discipline to change what no longer works.

The most uncomfortable lesson we have had to confront is also the most liberating.

Football cannot rise above the quality of the minds that govern it. Talent can excite crowds. Passion can fill stadiums. Patriotism can move a nation.

But without competent administration, intelligent leadership and skilled management, the game stalls. It circles. It repeats itself.

This is why capacity building is not a slogan within ZIFA’s reform agenda — it is its centre of gravity. Not rhetoric. Not optics. Strategy.

Institutions do not collapse from lack of talent. They collapse from weak systems, poor governance and underdeveloped leadership.

How we arrived here

Football administration in Zimbabwe, like in many football cultures, did not historically evolve as a professional discipline.

It evolved as a fallback.

For years, administration was something people fell into, not something they trained for.

Those who could not play or coach were often redirected into management roles, not through preparation, but through circumstance. This produced many committed servants of the game, people of loyalty, dedication and sacrifice.

But it also entrenched a culture where administration was not treated as a profession requiring technical training, structured education and continuous development.

Goodwill replaced governance. Passion replaced process.

Modern football has exposed the limits of that model.  Today’s administrator operates in a multi-layered ecosystem of governance frameworks, financial regulation, legal compliance, ethical governance, commercial strategy, risk management, marketing intelligence and stakeholder diplomacy.

The game has industrialised. It has globalised. It has professionalised. Good intentions no longer protect institutions from collapse.  Passion without preparation creates vulnerability. Commitment without competence creates instability.

If administration is the engine room of football, then the quality of the engine determines the distance the game can travel.

A deliberate shift in mindset

Transformation never begins with structures. It starts with thinking. The most dangerous illusion in football governance is the belief that you can fix tomorrow’s problems using yesterday’s thinking.

If Zimbabwean football continues to operate with inherited mindsets, outdated habits and informal systems, then the future will simply reproduce the past, only delayed and repackaged.

The shift ZIFA is pursuing is not cosmetic reform. It is cognitive reform. A redefinition of football administration as a profession, not a fallback. As a discipline, not a convenience. As a calling that demands training, ethics, competence and accountability.

Capacity is not a luxury item in modern football. It is infrastructure. It is as essential as pitches, academies and competitions.

Without it, every other investment becomes fragile.

Introducing a globally rated programme

It is within this strategic frame that ZIFA introduces the FIFA CIES International Programme in Sports Management in Zimbabwe, delivered in partnership with Midlands State University.

This is not a symbolic partnership. It is a structural intervention. The FIFA CIES programme is one of the most respected sports management programmes in the world.

More than 7 000 alumni have passed through it globally, the majority now embedded in football governance, management and the wider sports industry.

Zimbabwe’s inclusion in this global network is not incidental. It places the country inside the international knowledge ecosystem of football development.

Not observing it. Not borrowing from it. Participating in it. Becoming only the third African nation to host the programme is a statement of intent. Zimbabwean football is no longer content to exist on the margins of global football thinking.

What the programme delivers

The FIFA CIES programme is structured around six pillars that define modern sports governance.

It covers sports management, sports law, sports finance, sports marketing and sponsorship, sports communication and sports event management.

Its strength lies not only in content, but in design. Theory meets practice. Global best practice meets local context. Academic rigour meets real world application.

Participants are not trained to memorise concepts, but to solve problems, manage systems, lead institutions and navigate complexity. This is not abstract education.

It is applied capacity building. Knowledge that translates into governance reform, administrative competence and institutional resilience.

Investing in people, not just structures

Football development often chases visible symbols of progress such as infrastructure, facilities, competitions and equipment.

All of these matter. But without skilled people behind them, they decay.

This programme is focused on the human architecture of football. It speaks to administrators, executives, club managers, former players transitioning into leadership and professionals seeking to serve the game with integrity and competence.

The objective is systemic — to build a national pipeline of football professionals capable of strengthening clubs, leagues, associations and institutions over time.

This is how football nations are built. Not through shortcuts, but through sustained investment in people.

From survival to strategy

Zimbabwean football has lived too long in crisis management mode. Reactive. Defensive. Firefighting.  Capacity building is the bridge from survival to strategy. It enables planning instead of panic, systems instead of improvisation and continuity instead of dependency on individuals.

When knowledge becomes institutional, progress no longer collapses with leadership changes. Systems endure. Standards rise. Credibility grows. Trust is rebuilt with players, supporters, sponsors, the Government, CAF and FIFA.

A shared responsibility

ZIFA can initiate reform, but it cannot monopolise responsibility. Administrators must commit to learning. Clubs must value professionalism. Stakeholders must prioritise long-term development over short-term noise.

This programme is not about certificates on walls. It is about changing the culture of governance in Zimbabwean football.

Nations do not fail for lack of talent. They fail for lack of systems.

We owe better to the players who dream. We owe better to the supporters who believe. We owe better to a nation that deserves institutions that work.

Zimbabwean football will not move forward by accident. It will move forward by design, through deliberate action, disciplined leadership and intellectual investment.

The era of almost there must end. This is the moment to choose construction over complaint. Learning over lament. Structure over sentiment. Capacity over chaos.

If Zimbabwean football is to rise, it will rise on the strength of the minds that lead it. If the future is to be different from the past, then the thinking that shapes it must be different too.

The call is clear and unavoidable. Build the minds and the game will follow.

Nqobile Magwizi is the ZIFA president.

More News