The transfer carousel is spinning, and at its centre are the Directors of Football, Technical Directors, and Sporting Directors, orchestrating the complex dance of player and coach movements across the global stage.
In the 80s and 90s, when we played, club dynamics were vastly different. There was a clear hierarchy, with coaches and managers holding the reins. Now we’re seeing a significant shift.
Club directors have emerged as the power players, shaping the club’s direction, making key financial choices, and, in some instances, influencing team selections. This begs the question: How did we get here, and what does this mean for the future of football? What are the effects on the clubs themselves, the players on the pitch, and the coaches on the sidelines?
Do not pay too much attention to the different names because they all mean the same thing or the context in which they are used is similar across the board. Other clubs prefer to use a name that better suits their internal management hierarchies.
For the purposes of this article, we will stick with the Sporting Director (SD) as the appropriate term to use. In the DStv Premiership, Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns both have Sporting Directors. AmaZulu have a Director of Football.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE SPORTING DIRECTOR?
In the past, the role fell within the performance parameters of the head coach or the manager, as they are known in Europe. As clubs grew and began to have youth academies, women’s teams, scouting departments, and fitness and medical departments, the workload became too much for the head coach, whose primary focus was the first team’s performance on the playing and training fields.
By its very nature, a head coach’s contract is relatively short, often two to three years. Coaches are generally not boardroom people or visionaries who can drive the club’s long-term vision or strategy and ensure its fluid implementation.
Even with those short contracts, a coach’s poor performance can result in the early termination of that contract, which then impacts fluidity and continuity. So, the SD, whose contract is longer-term, is responsible for driving strategy development and implementation for the team.
With clubs becoming much larger institutions than just the first team, the need for a reporting structure has become paramount. Given their heavy workload and the myriad stakeholders they must interact with daily, the Chairman or CEO needs help, hence the need for a team around them.
THE SPORTING DIRECTOR HAS AN INFLUENTIAL ROLE
The SD becomes one of those people, and they will have other role players within the club, e.g. Marketing, PR, Operations, Security, Stakeholder Management, etc.
With transfer figures reaching staggering amounts in modern-day football, the responsibility can no longer be left to the head coach alone. Negotiation skills, familiarity with governance prescripts, the segregation of duties, the legalities and related matters have come into sharp focus, and the SD is entrusted with that responsibility.
Internal consultations are still necessary when deciding which players to buy or sell, contracts to extend or terminate, players to release, etc., but the SD’s office makes the final decisions.
Therefore, the SD has an essential and influential role within the club, and as this role becomes more defined, more clubs will appoint SDs.
It is also important to note that SD’s role is a backroom role, and they have no business interfering with the head coach’s or PR departments.
Eugene Zwane is a former South African footballer who played as a midfielder for Jomo Cosmos and Orlando Pirates in the 1980s and 1990s.
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