Online Reporter
Blessing Malinganiza
GERALD SIBANDA’S name still rings loud in Zimbabwe’s rugby circles, but his story has moved far beyond the try line.
The onetime Sables vice captain now plays on a far bigger field, one that stretches from Harare to Seville, Berlin to Sao Paulo.
At 36, he has become a rare bridge between local talent and the highest echelons of world sport, turning a personal journey of grit and imagination into a blueprint for others.
To most local football fans, he is known as the man behind Real Betis Academy Zimbabwe, an offshoot of the Spanish La Liga club.
Yet that is only the surface.
Sibanda is a global sports business and investment professional, a regional partner for Real Betis Balompie, and a strategist whose work spans football, rugby, boxing and more.
He sees his mission as much larger than running an academy.
“Our mission is dual, commercial success and meaningful sports development, starting at home in Zimbabwe and across Africa,” he says.
That dual mission is already bearing fruit.
Through his agency, Athletes Sphere Management, six players from Zimbabwe’s Premier Soccer League have broken into international leagues.
“One made it in the COSAFA squad that participated in South Africa this year, a fantastic surprise. Another was contracted with a top-flight South African side, and that’s Nokutenda Mangezi,” he says with quiet pride.
“This graduation is a significant success. We are committed to having a strong presence in every major transfer market.”
The partnership with Real Betis is the keystone of Sibanda’s vision.
For three years, he has steered a collaboration that is more than a business deal.
It has opened doors for Government ministers, corporate leaders and young players to engage with Spain’s football culture first- hand.
Tourism officials have watched Betis matches in Seville, while sports directors have studied how elite European clubs operate.
“Leading the Real Betis project has been an unspeakable joy and central to our mission,” Sibanda says.
It is sports diplomacy in action, and it builds on the credibility he earned during an 18-year professional rugby career.
Sibanda captained Zimbabwe’s Under-19 side, starred at the 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup in Dubai, and built a reputation for sharp thinking and unshakeable discipline.
Those traits now underpin his executive style.
“The majority of these international projects are executed through the formal structure of Athletes Sphere, which secures the contracts and partnerships that make everything possible,” he explains.
The reach of Athletes Sphere is striking.
Active projects run in Africa, South America, Europe and the Middle East, and the next target markets include Asia and the Americas.
Sibanda speaks with the conviction of a man who has lived the global game.
“We are looking to put a strong footprint as an agency in key global markets,” he says. “I am incredibly excited about the future and my ongoing role in developing sports in Zimbabwe, across Africa and beyond,” he says.
“We’ve made tremendous progress, and now we’re extending that influence to different nations and communities.”
What gives his words weight is the arc of his own life.
He grew up chasing rugby dreams in Bulawayo and ended up representing Zimbabwe on the biggest stages.
He knows what it means to fight for opportunities and how easily they can slip away without the right networks.
That lived experience shapes his belief that sport should open doors, not just entertain.
This is why he is equally at ease negotiating with European clubs and mentoring a young striker from Mbare.
His approach is deliberate and layered.
First, nurture talent at home. Next, secure international exposure and top-tier training. Then, connect those players to global markets while building commercial models that sustain development.
The Real Betis Academy in Harare is proof of concept, and Sibanda is already looking to replicate it in other sports and regions.
The ambition keeps growing.
He wants to infiltrate the Bundesliga, Serie A and the English Premier League, not only with players, but with lasting business ties.
He is eyeing Asia’s booming leagues and fresh opportunities in the Americas.
Yet he speaks just as passionately about using sport to tell Zimbabwe’s story, to show the country as a place of talent, resilience and creativity.
In conversation, Sibanda comes across as both strategist and believer.
He is comfortable discussing broadcast rights and transfer fees, but he always circles back to purpose.
For him, success is not only a player signing abroad or a profitable partnership. It is about a young Zimbabwean seeing a path once thought unreachable. It is about proving that world-class sport can be built at home.
As he moves between meetings in Harare, Madrid and beyond, Sibanda carries with him the lessons of the field; patience, timing and the courage to seize space when it opens.
He is, in every sense, still in the game, only now the stadium is the world.
