Four Zimbabweans pass Fifa Football Agent Examinations

Leonard Ncube [email protected]
FOUR Zimbabweans have passed the Fifa Football Agent examinations taking to 11, the number of approved professional agents in the country.
Mandla Dingani, a Victoria Falls City Council employee in the Housing and Community Services Department is among the four new agents that include Tendai Mukungunurwa, Happymore Chayira, and Charles Chipembera.
He becomes the second Fifa-approved agent in Matabeleland North after Lindela Tshuma and the only one in Victoria Falls.
Dingani’s presence will go a long way in empowering young footballers from the city after years of exploitation by fly-by-night agents who were taking chances and advantage of budding soccer players on the pretext of linking them to big clubs outside the resort city.
Dingani, Mukungunurwa, and Chayira are the only ones who passed the November 2024 Fifa Football Agent Examinations out of the 12 who sat for the exams after demonstrating exceptional knowledge and expertise and meeting the stringent standards set by Fifa.
Dingani has since received his Fifa licence and joins the ranks of professional agents who represent football talent globally.
This brings to 11 the number of Fifa-licenced Football agents in Zimbabwe.
The current list had Denford Mutashu, George Deda, Garikayi Gilbert Sengwe, Lindela Tshuma, Gibson Mahachi, Adonis Ndaimana Sithole and Kudakwashe Mashamba.
With the others, Dingani will play a pivotal role in the football ecosystem bridging the gap between players and clubs while ensuring professional representation in contract negotiations and career management. He was born and grew up in a football family as his father Dingilizwe Dingani was a team medic for Hwange Football Club from 1993-2019.
A staunch Liverpool fan, Dingani said he owed his success to not only his father but former Hwange players that he admired on and off the field.
“So basically I am a soccer fanatic whose love for the game was inculcated in me by my father. I used to escort him to camp as I wanted to watch the likes of Walter Chuma the 1997 Soccer STAR of the Year, Chenjerai Dube, Brian Njobvu, Method Mwanjale and Nation Dube, who were my heroes back then.
“I had aspirations of playing soccer at a professional level after having represented my secondary school Marist Brothers Dete but my father would have none of that as he had concerns with my physical fitness. My former schoolmate at Marist Brothers, Winston Mhango was one of the key advisers and influencers into taking this course as I always desired to represent him because of his amazing soccer exploits at school,” said Dingani.
He said his ambition is to contribute to the game hence a keen interest in becoming a Fifa licenced agent.
Dingani said he will work hard to identify talent and open opportunities for soccer players in Zimbabwe.
“An advert was flighted on Zifa’s Facebook page and a friend alerted me as he knew I was keen to take up the challenge. I registered on the FIFA platform and went through their study materials until we wrote the exams on 20 November 2024.
“I sought guidance and advice from people in the field such as George Deda who continues to selflessly guide me, Adonis Sithole the first to pass exams at their inception last year and I highly regard him as my tutor, Gilbert Sengwe and Lindela Tshuma who is the only other agent from this region,” said Dingani.
He said he is from a soccer family as his maternal uncles Stanley Nkomo and Lovemore Mwetwa played for Hwange FC and Railstars FC respectively.
He said football agency seeks to bring professional guidance in negotiating soccer players’ contracts and ensuring that players are educated about their contracts and also assist them exploit the future.
Dingani was born and raised in Hwange and with his elder sister Rebecca, they grew up supporting Liverpool FC.
He said he has turned down numerous pleas to join local soccer team executives as his goal was to become an agent.
He wrote the final examination a day before his graduation with a Master of Arts in Strategic Communications at Midlands State University last month.
@ncubeleon