KOATA ASSIGNED WORLD CUP GIG
The football administrator will be heading to Qatar on his third assignment since World Cup 2010 in South Africa
Local football administrator, Harry Koata will be heading to the World Cup once again to offer his expertise at the global showpiece, and this will be his third time working at the Fifa World Cup.
Koata was invited by the LOC FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to assist them in Doha during the upcoming event on Marketing Delivery Rights.
“This will be my 3rd World Cup assignment after South Africa and Brazil in 2010 and 2014 respectively. I’m supposed to start work on November 16th to December 20th and I will be based at Khalifa International Stadium,” he said in an interview this week.
The renowned local administrator will be the Project Officer responsible for FIFA Commercial Affiliates by ensuring that their advertising rights are protected at match venues, media centres, fan parks and command centres.
His other responsibility involves taking care of FIFA Commercial partners and their guests at all match venues by ensuring that their operations run smoothly.
He will be the liaison resource between Marketing Delivery Rights and other functional areas such as Logistics, Media, Accreditation, Volunteer Management, Protocol, Spectator Services and Security.
“Since my first FIFA assignment in South Africa in 2010 where I was in charge of Accreditation and Volunteer Management,
I had the opportunity to work with different personnel from different functional areas.
“This has exposed me to different tasks and challenges, hence my ability and knowledge to deal with different landscapes. In Brazil, I was assigned one of the most awkward assignments, that of being Project Officer for FIFA Hospitality Affiliates and Protocol. I delivered on the assignment and mandate of my portfolio, hence my elevation to the more corporate area of Marketing Delivery Rights.”
However, the administrator is of the view that the knowledge, experience and expertise that he amassed over the years around the world hasn’t been optimized here at home by other sport associations in general and BFA in particular.
“I have offered my services to the local sporting fraternity in the past, but the uptake isn’t satisfactory. I have worked with a few football clubs such as Notwane, Masitaoka and VTM FC, just to name a few on transformational processes, organizational re-engineering and commercialization.”
Not only that, Koata has also worked closely with the Botswana Karate Association (BOKA), Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) and CUCSA to offer the same services.
“Having worked in the financial industry for over thirty years, including working for the big four banks in the country and two finance development agencies (CEDA and LEA), that speaks volumes
of the kind of experience, knowledge and expertise that I possess.”
Koata holds Bachelor of Business Administration (Marketing) as well as an MBA and has traveled around the globe both on business and personal affairs.
“I have learned to accept that I am more appreciated outside Botswana than here at home by my country men and women, and I’m content with it.”
Besides doing some work for FIFA, the travelled administrator has been working with COSAFA as part of the LOC since 2019, working closely with the Secretary General, Sue Destombes.