For many footballers making it big constitutes moving abroad and getting to play for some of the worlds biggest clubs. For Willard Katsande, moving to South Africa where he turns out for Kaizer Chiefs is what dreams are made of when taking a close look at his humble beginnings in Mutare.
Once a second division player Katsande rose to play for Highway before securing a move to Gunners. It was however at Gunners where his big breakthrough would come after South Africa’s Ajax Cape Town came calling. Following a stint at Ajax Cape town Katsande would then move to Kaizer Chiefs where he has established himself as a top midfielder over the years, earning the player of the year award while at his peak.
Katsande’s success has however gone beyond on field success, with the gritty defensive midfielder managing to grow into one of the most popular brands in South Africa. Willard boasts of over 200,000 twitter followers and more than 200,000 likes on facebook thus making him one of the footballers with a huge presence on the social media spectrum and consequently emerging as a leading brand.
To cement his brand power Katsande is featured in a Vodacom advert which is currently running on South African Television stations. In the advert katsande is captured dancing to “sungura” while clad in his Kaizer Chiefs uniform. Such appearances do not come any cheap and fortunately for Katsande a growing brand is helping him secure added earning opportunities outside his daily football routines.
With football being the short career that it is, Katsande is capitalising on every opportunity of earning as much as he can while he still has the opportunity. Unfortunately most young footballers limit themselves to on field activity without realising other opportunities of earning while they still can.
