dyton mupawaenda
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ONE of domestic football’s most dedicated servants, Sharif Mussa is counting on his vast experience and extensive network to help him transform the national game’s landscape if the ZIFA Congress gives him the mandate to be on the board.
Mussa is eyeing a seat in the ZIFA executive committee at the association’s January 25 elections.
Long on experience, the veteran former Warriors and national teams’ general manager has his name etched in the echelons of the game in this country since introducing himself as a volunteer during the 1995 Sixth All-Africa Games hosted by Zimbabwe.
He has since risen through the ranks to even be on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and COSAFA books, being a general coordinator and competitions committee member, respectively.
And it is his tried and tested acumen that he thinks makes him unique from a strong field of 38 contestants.
“It’s not really about me or the others, but it’s about what I can offer to football, which is important,’’ Mussa said.
“I think I have garnered enough experience to add value in the running of the Zimbabwe Football Association.
“I have been in the game for more than a decade, serving in different capacities,” he said.
“At the end of the day, what we all want to see is a corrupt-free system that protects the integrity of the game. I think we need a sound dispute resolution set-up to avoid letting football issues be taken elsewhere.
“That removes credibility and damages the game’s reputation, so to say, and obviously sponsors do not want to be associated with something that has got a tainted image for obvious reasons.”
Mussa said football was all about posting success on and off the field of play, and that way guarantees it to be vibrant.
“We can have integrity in the association, which I stand for; we can have good facilities and everything else in place, but if you are not winning, then the value ceases to be seen.
“We need to capacitate our technical departments and make sure they get as much exposure as they can have for us to be successful.
“We need to take care of the players’ welfare, both active and retired. It is our responsibility to create safety nets for the retired footballers so that they can still continue to earn a living well after their playing days.
“We need to capacitate the councillors because they are the people responsible for driving football around the coun-try through the affiliates, be it area zones, women, provinces, NAPH, NASH, tertiary institutions, or regions.
“I am a team player, and I think as a collective we can turn around our football,’’ added Mussa.
Mussa is synonymous with the national team, having been the Warriors liaison officer in their maiden Africa Cup of Nations appearance in Tunisia back in 2004 before he became their manager a year later when they won the COSAFA trophy in Mmabatho, South Africa.
He was also in the Warriors management when Charles Mhlauri qualified for the 2006 AFCON in Egypt.
Mussa was team manager when Zimbabwe reclaimed the COSAFA Cup on home soil in 2009 and retained the post when Zimbabwe played Brazil in a high-profile international friendly at the National Sports Stadium a month before the 2010 World Cup.
The Harare businessman would also manage the team in the CHAN tournaments in 2014 under Ian Gorowa in Cape Town, where they finished fourth.
Two years later he was manager when Kalisto Pasuwa’s Warriors returned to the CHAN competition in Rwanda and in 2017 when they qualified for the AFCON with a game to spare.
Mussa is currently ZIFA’s First Instance Board (FIB) chairman and has been instrumental in the fight to have the country’s stadiums spruced up to meet CAF standards.
“I think I have established wide contacts that can help improve the game in this country. Football is all about net-working, and that can add a lot of value.
“We can have partners from within the country, including the government, and from outside the country as well. Our football will never go wrong in terms of value. We have stagnated for quite a long time, and that should end.”
