Zimbabwe Football Coaches Set For Transformation
Zimbabwean football is set for transformation after a large number of coaches subscribed to an Elite Coaches refresher course aimed at validating CAF A coaching licences.
The five-day course is being conducted in Harare by CAF coaching instructor Honour Janza, a Zambian national.
More than 40 coaches, including coaches from all the 18 Premier Soccer League clubs and some Division One teams are represented at the clinic ahead of the upcoming 2023 season.
Speaking to The Herald, Janza said they are moving from the old system where coaches would be confined to the football pitch to “modern managers”. Said Janza:
Generally, a coach is mostly invested with knowledge of football coaching itself but at this level of CAF A, there are components of management which goes beyond the playing field alone.
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It also encompasses the issues of media management; addressing the club philosophy, the club’s needs, the corporate image of the club and also the management of players’ transfers contracts.
Modern managers are these coaches that should be able to relate their football coaching with the understanding of budgeting and so forth; administrative issues.
Prior to the season, they must follow up on accommodation contracts at home and away and transport.
In some other countries, they have contracts with airlines because of the distances, for instance in South Africa.
All these things the coach should be able to understand and know what is in place.
So this defines that the coach also becomes a manager. He also has to manage the backroom staff.
He said modern football coaching is longer about the coach knowing the ball only but encompasses the ability to motivate players among other things. Said Janza:
Gone are the days when the coach will only have two or three personnel around him.
The coaches of this calibre, at their level, their backroom staff goes beyond seven to eight, nine and as a result, they need managerial skills, human resources management and other managerial skills that should be able to harmonise everybody around.
You will find that there are also issues of player management. You have to talk to the player, motivate the player, and bring the player that is motivated to speed; how do you manage a player that is demotivated or that has psychological challenges? So as a manager, you have to overcome all those things.
So we are moving away from the concept of being just a mere coach who knows the ball and himself, the ball and the player but it goes beyond that now.
Zimbabwe last held a CAF A coaching course back in 2017, so as it stands, all Zimbabwean CAF holders were sitting on expired badges.
According to Article 32 of the CAF coaching convention, a CAF A coaching licence is valid for three years, after the year of issue or renewal.
The licence is renewed for a further three years if its holder has completed a refresher course organised by a Convention Member.
