Amine Sbia: The Business Manager changing perceptions in Algerian football

He is one of the future leaders of African sports development management.

At the club for almost two years, Amine Sbia is trying to bring CR Belouizdad fully into the 21st century. Advisor to the president and responsible for Business Development, he explains the red and white projects to us.

A bold move

But he is bucking the trend in other ways too – not least of all the fact that her appointment represents a bold and bright significant step in local football administration.

“In football, these appointments, not to be biased, are typically seasoned persons in their 50s and 60s who have been there and it tells you how progressive Belouizdad is because they don’t want to do business as usual,” says Sbia.

“I have to work twice as hard, not only because I am a young, but because we are still in Africa where respect goes to those who are seasoned, while additional respect is given to men.”

Plenty to offer

Sbia arrives with an impressive CV.

After studying marketing in Italy, development sports management in England and various internships in Europe, he was poached by Algmont Sports Management in Montenegro, who run the affairs of quite a few professional football clubs in Montenegro and Serbia, such as FK Lovcen and FK Vojvodina.

“Respect comes with delivery of service and when I joined the board, their perception of me changed within two or three months because they see what I am able to do on a day-to-day basis,” he ventured.

the latest in a ever-growing but still small band of young with positions of power in Africa’s most popular sport is under no doubt about her immediate priorities.

“Increase revenue – that is why I have been brought here,” he explains. “If you are not bringing money and creating efficiencies as a Manager, you are not doing your job.”

“Number two is to build a global brand – people need to see that this club supersedes Algeria. We are trying to transform the industry and see these clubs as a means for doing business.

“We have a millions fans and our role is to find linkages with businesses to see how we transform these fans into customers for out potential partners.”

A love of football

Having long held a passion for football, having both played it and developed a love for Belouizdad, Sbia was initially put off about by the industry given its perception on the continent.

“My role is to professionalise the industry,” he asserts. “Right now, it is seen as a very unprofessional industry, run like a ‘mom & pop shop’ – that needs to change.”

Among the structures he will be looking to set up is an avenue to develop young talent and although Algerian’s federation requires all top tier clubs to have youth outfits, only two have fully-fledged youth academies.

“It doesn’t make sense that a massive club like Belouizdad constantly buys players from other clubs and leagues,” he explains.

“We need to create a structure where we are upgrading some players into the main team every year, but until you have invested heavily into the youth academy that can’t happen.”

“Our ultimate goal for the next few years is to be champions of Africa. We realise that cannot happen overnight,” he explains.

“Our role is to create an enabling environment for the technical bench to deliver results. If that means investing in players – invest well.

“If that means investing in equipment – invest well. If that means investing in nutrition and medical equipment to create the best performance – invest well.”

As he plans to do exactly that, Sbia aims to become a reference point for Young African aspiring to a career in sports leadership.

“I think this will inspire many young to say: ‘you know, we have our Amine there, it is possible we can do this, and if he has been able to do it in a very tough environment like Algeria I am pretty sure it is possible in the rest of the continent’,” he said.