Online Reporter
DYNAMOS fans and the general football fraternity woke up to disturbing news on Thursday that the country’s successful club has been banned by the game’s world controlling body FIFA from undertaking any business during the next three transfer windows for failing to honour contractual obligations to two of their expatriate players.
The troubled Harare giants owe a combined US$18 500 to their former players — Emmanuel Paga and Frederick Ansah Botchway — and the pair took their case to FIFA after exhausting domestic remedies, which did not yield any fruits as Dynamos did not comply.
As reported earlier in our Thursday edition, Dynamos become the latest culprits of ill-treatment of their coaches or players, conduct which FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) do not condone at all.
Yadah Stars, Ngezi Platinum Stars and Highlanders have been found guilty of contractual breaches with far-reaching consequences.
Just like Dynamos, Yadah and Highlanders were slapped with bans from registering players locally and internationally while Ngezi were ordered to pay heavily for their contractual breaches on the agreement they had entered with their former coach Benjani Mwaruwari.
While on paper it may seem an internal matter to be dispensed by Dynamos, Yadah, Highlanders or Ngezi within the confines of their administrative corridors, we beg to differ.
We actually believe these are big RED FLAGS, which the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) ought to immediately address.
This is because ZIFA are the authority mandated with administering all organised football in the country, hence their membership of FIFA and CAF.
It is ZIFA who must enforce compliance with Club Licensing, a phenomenon instructed by FIFA to enhance the professional administration of this sport which has become a massive global industry, raking in billions of dollars.
Yet in Zimbabwe it is also still amateurish with even the domestic Premier Soccer League (PSL) still failing to implement the basics that would give the national game a professional outlook.
That is why two PSL matches endured delayed starts last weekend because there was no ambulance at the match venue.
Without ZIFA taking a lead in demanding that Club Licensing be implemented from the PSL level and cascading downwards
In October 2016, FIFA unveiled a programme dubbed FIFA 2.0, establishing the path forward for FIFA as the steward of global football, and communicating the organisation’s vision: promote the game of football, protect its integrity, and bring the game to all.
FIFA will achieve this vision by achieving three key objectives: growing the game; enhancing the experience; and building a stronger institution.
Central to fulfilling the objective of growing the game is the further professionalisation of club football around the world. FIFA is leading these efforts with the recent creation of the Professional Football Department as part of a new approach to better engage with football stakeholders such as clubs, leagues and players.
The global implementation of club licensing requires a mentality of growing the game through the professionalisation of club football, which will help Confederations in our case CAF and Member Associations (ZIFA) to improve the standards within the football community and to safeguard the credibility and integrity of club competitions, thereby promoting sporting values, principles of fair play and transparency in club finances and club ownership.
CAF Club Licensing regulations are anchored in key pillars which are sporting, financial, infrastructure, legal, and personnel and administrative criteria.
These criteria ensure that clubs participating in CAF competitions meet certain standards in various areas and under Sporting, clubs are required to have youth development programs, youth teams, women’s teams, and the club’s overall sporting structure.
Many of the top clubs are still found wanting in that regard, with youth development now largely being left to individuals who have been ingenious enough to set up academies across the country.
Resultantly most of the big football clashes in the country are now being curtain-raised by musical shows at the expense of junior games.
CAF also demand that each club’s financial stability and sustainability, including financial reporting, debt management, and compliance with financial rules must be laid bare to the association through the office of the Club Licensing manager.
We wonder whether this is being implemented when just two weeks into a season, a PSL club like Kwekwe United which would have been licensed to play fails to travel to fulfil a fixture because of funding challenges.
Thus, we believe the tough stance taken by the FIFA disciplinary committee is essentially a red flag to ZIFA to act and demand compliance with Club Licensing, lest the world football body will wake up and declare Zimbabwean football amateurish.
CAF have also become stricter on the pillar of Infrastructure, which covers the club’s stadium, training facilities, and other infrastructure requirements, ensuring they meet safety and quality standards.
In this regard local clubs have been found as much wanting as they are with the legal aspect with many top-flight institutions lacking the necessary legal documentation needed for professionalism. The same legal criteria, also seeks to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and has a transparent governance structure.
Under the Personnel and Administrative, there is requirement to ensure that clubs’ staffing, management structure, and administrative processes, including the employment of qualified personnel and adherence to ethical practices are followed to the letter.
But we have noted a blatant disregard to contracts as exhibited by Yadah, Ngezi Platinum Stars, Highlanders, Kwekwe United and lately Dynamos.
However, the commitment demonstrated so far by new ZIFA president Nqobile Magwizi and his executive committee to instil corporate governance across Zimbabwe’s football structures, shows that there is hope at the end of the tunnel.
While ZIFA may have affiliate structures like the PSL, Women’s Soccer League and the Regions, the buck stops with the associations and it is Magwizi and his leadership who will be held accountable for any such actions like attracting FIFA bans, CAF or COSAFA fines and suspension as they all serve to bring the name of Zimbabwe into disrepute.
Thus, ZIFA cannot watch from a distance as the sad and embarrassing misconduct by Dynamos or any other club continues to bring Zimbabwe football into disrepute.
