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Zimbabwe: Aspiring Fifa Agents to Pay $5bn for Exams
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Augustine Hwata
Harare
Aspiring Fifa agents will have to fork out $5 billion to write the world football governing body's approved examination that will be administered by Zifa on March 31.
In addition to the $5 billion, the prospective player managers will have to pay a $100 million application fee that is non-refundable. "The Zimbabwe Football Association would like to announce that a Fifa licenced player agents examination will be held on Monday 31, 2008 at 10 00 hours at Zifa House," said Zifa chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya in a statement.
Rushwaya said the examination would be open to any individuals with resources and experience in player management.
"The examination will be open to persons or individuals with proven experience in player management and have resources to sustain a business portfolio," she said.
Zifa have been distributing the application forms since March 20. "Application forms for the examinations can be collected from the Zifa office upon payment of a non-refundable $100m fee," Rushwaya said.
At the moment, Zimbabwe has 17 agents who appear on the Fifa-approved list.
According to the list posted on the Fifa website, Zimbabwe has Fortune Chisale whose most known players are former Hwange skipper Obert Moyo and Dynamos trialist Audience Rundofa. Mark Gamanya, Tinashe Gomba who manages Bosso striker Jacob Muzokomba, Ben Gwarada of Afrolink Sports Management, Gibson Mahachi and Winston Makamure who had a long stint as Peter Ndlovu and Kennedy Chihuri's manager are also listed.
Stanley Makombe of Royal Car sales who once brought Hungarian Postar Sandor, disguised as football coach to Motor Action last year, Kennedy Mapeza brother to Monomotapa coach Norman and Harare optician Douglas Matizanhau have already passed their exams.
Highlander's representative in Harare Msongelwa Ndlovu, Martin Nyamupingidza, Pedzai Sakupwanya, Sam Christopher, Kudzanai Shaba of Masland Sports International, Odwell Simunyu, Ashy Taraboletti and Lindela Tshuma complete the list of Fifa-registered agents.
Rushwaya said Zifa were holding the examination next Monday before compiling a consolidated list of registered agents based in Zimbabwe as the association desires to see local players being managed by qualified agents.
"This will no doubt help our players to break into the professional leagues abroad ahead of the 2010 World Cup and beyond," Rushwaya said.
But despite Zifa's drive to see only qualified agents handling the players' transfers, the association has done nothing to curtail a host of unregistered agents who have sprouted all over.
There have been several cases of disputes involving players during the off-season with the prominent being the protracted dispute over Leonard Tsipa's move to Dynamos. In the past, the local Premiership has also referred a number of cases to the Zifa Players' Status Committee involving ownership of players being handled by dubious agents.
It is also fair for Zifa to take the fault for their failure arrest the decay that has seen a number of conmen, under the banner of being player-agents, sowing confusion in the local game. Rushwaya said Zifa will now be taking a more pro-active approach aimed at weeding the unregistered agents out of the system.
"Our efforts shall also nip in the bud the mushrooming of pirate football managers who have left many a player in dead ends as the pirates in question, have no contacts beyond their place of domicile and have no resources to be able to manage such a strategic business," she said.
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Despite having 17 people on the Fifa list, the local agents have done little to secure lucrative deals for local players. With the number of agents set to increase after Monday's examination, the real value of having a substantial number of already qualified agents is not being felt around. It appears a number of Premiership and Division One clubs find it easier and hassle free to deal directly with a player than going through the so-called Fifa agents when
dealing with transfers on the local market. There is still a lot of skepticism by clubs who view player-agents as being out to raise stakes when negotiating deals for players while agents are of the opinion that clubs would give the worse contracts to players who are not represented.
The registered agents, on their part have failed to form a coalition or directory from where any clubs could refer if they want a certain player.
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