UNITED Kingdom-based football intermediary and only African
woman match agent in the world, Ellen Chiwenga, has set her eyes on the Zifa
presidency in the 2022 elections.
A member of the Association of Football Agents (AFA), the
International Association of Fifa Licensed Football Match Agents (FIFMA), and
Women in Football (WIF) from Zimbabwe, Chiwenga took to her Facebook timeline
to announce her intended entry into mainstream football politics in two years’
time to challenge Felton Kamambo.
Should Kamambo choose to seek re-election as expected and
wins, he will be in his second and final term according to Article 38 of the
Zifa Constitution.
Chiwenga informed her friends on Facebook that she will
contest the Zifa presidency when the present board’s four-year tenure expires
in 2022.
Responding to a question by one of her Facebook followers,
Kudakwashe Motsi, who asked if she was sincere in her intentions to run for the
biggest football post on the domestic scene, Chiwenga said she was serious.
If she decides to run, Chiwenga has to relinquish her
positions as a member of the Association of Football Agents (AFA) and the
International Association of Fifa Licensed Football match Agents (FIFMA) as per
Fifa requirements.
When Chronicle Sport contacted her yesterday, she could
neither confirm nor deny that she was eyeing the Zifa presidency.
“My personal assistant will give you details, don’t worry,”
Chiwenga said.
If she contests and wins, Chiwenga, who has been working in
the world of football for more than 15 years, will become only the third
African woman to lead a football association after Lydia Nsekera and Isha
Johansen who were voted presidents of the Burundi and Sierra Leone Football
Associations respectively.
According to her biography, Chiwenga legally represents
athletes by checking their contracts and negotiating their employment. She is
responsible for communication between managers and individuals she represents
to ensure that both sides are satisfied.
She also arranges worldwide matches between teams belonging
to different confederations, such as friendly matches and tournaments between
national teams or clubs.
“With passion and relentless determination, Ellen works
tirelessly to promote social and economic development through football. She
transforms football into a powerful instrument of economic and human
development that builds healthy communities, fosters growth, empowers women and
inspires change around the world,” reads part of her biography.
In 2017, Chiwenga won the Personality of the Year Award
under the Zimbabwe Achievers’ Awards and the African Woman of the Year in
Football in 2018.
In the same year, she became an ambassador of FC Karachi in
Pakistan. In August 2019, Chiwenga was appointed Global Goodwill Ambassador of
Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation (BHHF), a charity organisation that delivers
humanitarian aid and medicines to internally displaced people, refugees and
people in need around the world.
In November 2019, she was awarded the prestigious Football
Black List Award for her outstanding work in football and in January this year,
she was awarded the Medal of Knight of the Order of Lafayette.
Chiwenga is also a member of the Right to Play’
Partnerships Committee. Chronicle
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