Harare businessman and football administrator Nqobile Magwizi has emerged as a front-runner to win the Zimbabwe Football Association [ZIFA] elections, writes Phathisani Moyo. The upcoming watershed elections are an opportunity for a fresh start from a painful 18-month FIFA ban.
Half a dozen candidates passed a strict integrity test to contest for the powerful ZIFA president’s post on January 25. Magwizi’s role in supporting numerous teams in the league, including the country’s traditional giants Highlanders and Dynamos, when the game was recovering from a debilitating COVID-19, has endeared him to many fans.
He has been at the centre of multi-million dollar sponsorships that include workshops on the importance of professional administration.
The astute administrator, who believes in strengthening the game’s pillars at the grassroots level, recently attended the CAF awards in Morocco to promote Zimbabwe football.
WHAT MAKES MAGWIZI A FRONTRUNNER IN THE ZIFA ELECTION
“I want to lay a solid foundation for the sport, and I believe by interacting with prominent personalities, it becomes easier to share invaluable information with the game’s leaders and create partnerships that will help drive the sport in my country to greater heights. I’m confident that I will lead the association after the elections and expand the work which began long before we even started talking of elections,” he said.
Magwizi, a development finance practitioner and businessman, is a transformative leader in Zimbabwe’s sports and business sectors. He believes the country’s national teams can only succeed if real work starts at the grassroots.
Though a firm favourite, Magwizi is not resting on his laurels. He has vowed that his campaign will run until the final minute of January 25 when the 78-member ZIFA assembly converges at the Harare Sheraton Hotel to elect the leadership of Zimbabwe’s most popular sport.
Zimbabwe has produced some of the best talents, such as Peter Ndlovu, the first black player [from Africa] in the English Premier League.
However, successive boardroom squabbles and poor leadership have stifled the country’s progress to reach its full potential.
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