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Former Chelsea coach Avram Grant is set to be among the high profile speakers to grace the inaugural Zimbabwe Football Forum scheduled to take place in Harare later this month.
Grant, who has also coached West Ham, Portsmouth and the Ghana national football team in his 50-year coaching career, has been invited along with South African football legend, Doctor Khumalo.
Organisers of the football indaba, which is scheduled for October 14, said five international speakers have confirmed their availability. The other foreign speakers are Shlomi Meiner, an IT Specialist with the Israel’s football federation and owner of football solutions and consultancy firm called EasyCoach.club in Israel; Senzo Mbatha, who is a football specialist and current CEO of Young African Sporting Club, and Simon Peter, a football marketing specialist and founder and CEO of AfriSoccer Consulting who are the organisers of the Tanzania Football Forum.
There is also a long list of local speakers that include Gerald Sibanda, a former international rugby player and partner of Spanish La Liga Club Real Betis Balompe.
Along with Grant and Khumalo, Sibanda was also part of the invited speakers at the Tanzania Football Forum held recently in Zanzibar.
Former Zimbabwe youth international Terrence Malunga, who is the chairman of Zimbabwe Football Forum, said he was excited by the way the preparations have been shaping up.
The first ever Zimbabwe Football Forum is expected to bring together key stakeholders under one roof with the aim of exchanging ideas on how to professionalise and transform the struggling domestic football industry.
“We are glad to announce that we have about five international speakers that have been confirmed. We also have brilliant local experts who have agreed to be part of the football round table.
“Overall, I can say the preparations have been going quite well, but it could have been better if we had managed to get more corporate partners coming on board.
“We also need to acknowledge our anchor partners the ZIFA together with our organising partners Lumiworld Media, Ehost and Vusa Sport.
“We also have our football academy partners Real Betis Academy and our healthy food partners Glytime Foods and we are still calling upon corporates to partner us in our effort to lead and pioneer change in transforming and commercialising the local football industry,” said Malunga.
The other local speakers include Manase Chiweshe, a senior lecturer in the Department of Social and Community Development and Co-Chair of the Convenors of Gambling Realities Africa, Zimbabwe. An avid football researcher and writer, local FIFA expert and CAF as General Coordinator Violet Jubane, marketing and PR specialist Chido Chizondo, digital marketing expert and founder of Pan Afrodigital, Trust Nhokovedzo, and Kupakwashe Mukurumbira, an experienced sports administrator and consultant.
More presentations are expected from Catherine Nyachionjeka, a corporate governance expert and current CEO of the Institute of Directors Zimbabwe, Mthokozisi Nkosi, a marketing and customer relations expert and an experienced football administrator formerly with Dynamos, Tafadzwa Mapanzure of Vusa Sport, Joyce Kapota, Founder and CEO for Amor Sport and former footballer Moore Moyo.
Lecturer Lleyton Ncube, who has done extensive research on Zimbabwean football, is also expected at the indaba.
The football forum is the brainchild of Malunga and ex-footballer Clinton Matiza, through their organisation called TinMahn Sports.
They are set to present the inaugural Chairman’s Football Dedication Award to the legendary former Highlanders juniors coach, Ali “Baba” Dube.
Dube was instrumental in the grooming of players such as the Ndlovu brothers, Madinda, Adam and Peter, the late Benjamin Nkonjera, Willard Mashinkila-Khumalo (late) and the late Mercedes “Rambo” Sibanda, among others.
According to the Football Forum website, the Chairman’s football dedication award is “a prestigious and impactful award recognising individuals dedicated to the development of football through their life-long commitment to training, mentoring, counselling and skill impartation on young and junior players (both girls and boys).
“Their invaluable contribution has and is keeping young talented boys and girls from impoverished families and communities out of the streets and away from anti-social vices like drugs, gambling wind prostitution.” Herald
