Chitima growing his wings

INTERNATIONALLY accredited scout and FIFA/CIES Sports Administrator, Kudzai Chitima, who is currently doing a Foundation for Sporting Director Course, has said he is seeking to bridge the business and sporting side of football.

Chitima is doing the course with Swiss-based Focus Sports Education in conjunction with the International Professional Scouts Organisation (IPSO) UK and is scheduled to end at the end of the month.

The sporting director, also known as Head of Football, is an executive position which helps clubs formulate a culture, values, structures, and philosophy that align with the club’s vision.

Some of Chitima’s classmates are David Bailey, the Assistant Lead Scout Youth Development Phase at Manchester United, and Nick Gearing, the Nottingham Forest first team scout.

“I enrolled for the FIFA/CIES Executive Programme in Sports Management, as well as all other talent identification and scouting courses, to have a holistic appreciation of how sports are run on and off the pitch,” said Chitima.

“It is the future, as you can see already in South Africa it’s already starting, with clubs like Kaizer Chiefs, and Mamelodi Sundowns already having a sporting director. “Apart from the usual revenue streams like TV rights, merchandise selling, sponsorship, and advertising, player transfers are becoming important in club revenue generation too,” he said.

Chitima believes it’s high time club executives shift to professional football which embraces talent development.

“I think it just needs the club executives to set the tone, to have a change of mindset and it gets easier.

“I believe it is all about creating a culture, with buy-in from everyone at the club, from the top to the bottom.

“Talent/youth development is key to any country or club and we need to invest in the youth and trust the process.

“There are no shortcuts to developing worldclass players.”

He added:

“I believe we have enough talent within our ranks.

“I have scouted quality talent, and some get frustrated because of different factors like late talent identification, lack of support and no talent pathway, and they just leave football.

“We have a lot of potential.

“For example, check how important the likes of Isaac Mabaya (Liverpool), Tawanda Maswanhise (Leicester) and Tivonge Rushesha (Swansea) are to their teams.

“There is a need for clubs, and ZIFA to have regional, provincial and national scouts, who identify talent in their respective geographical areas and report to the Head of Scouting.

“A national database should be kept by ZIFA.”