‘Zim Football Policies Must Be Business Centred’

Mugove Chigada

NGEZI Platinum Stars Chief Executive Nyasha Kadenge believes Zimbabwe football will reach another level with policies in place that push all clubs to run like businesses.

Kadenge believes a situation where some clubs are doing things properly while some are way behind in terms of business models, drags everything down.

She was speaking to ZTN on how clubs can transform from being charity cases to being businesses.

“The issue in the country is how the football industry is structured. It is not structured in such a way that football is viable.

“…for example even the way our football is run, we do not have a policy that pushes the policy of
football business,” said Kadenge.

Kadenge’s statements also come at a time when Zimbabwe’s PSL is about to resume after 12 months of inaction as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although some clubs like FC platinum and Ngezi Platinum were ready to restart way back, the same cannot be said of the rest of the PSL teams.

Yet Kadenge believes the rise should be by all clubs to reach high standards of development.

“If you look at what happened in the EPL, it is the Premier league that pushed for the league to continue. They are the main brand behind the football in the country.”

On Ngezi Platinum’s push to be business centred, she said: “We formed a commercial wing that does jobs to help fund the club. In addition to that, we have merchandise. We have a shop at the stadium where we sell replicas and other things.”

She added that business models must also have long-term goals.

“We also have a development team. We are grooming players for the future. We are hoping to start selling these players regionally and locally.

“We have a stadium so we also sell advertising space and hope to improve our business model,” she said.