Archford Gutu (born August 5, 1993) is a Zimbabwean International footballer who plays as a midfielder. Gutu has played for two of the biggest and rival teams in Zimbabwe Dynamos FC and Caps United and won Championships with both giants, year 2011 with Dynamos FC and year 2016 with Caps United. Archford Gutu has played most of his senior football career in Sweden and has represented Zimbabwe National Teams at all levels. He is currently the director of Archford Gutu Football Academy in Zimbabwe.

Club career

Early career 
Gutu joined South Africa's Ajax Cape Town in 2009 on a three-year deal, but failed to make a single appearance in the Premier Soccer League due to registration rules, as he was still a minor then. On 14 September 2010, he agreed to terminate his contract with Ajax and he returned to Zimbabwe to join the country’s biggest club Dynamos fc and revived his football career .

Dynamos Harare 
On 25 September 2010, Gutu signed a two-year deal with Dynamos Harare. He made his first appearance for Dynamos on 4 November, coming on as a substitute in a 1–0 win against Monomotapa United. Gutu scored his 1st Dynamos goal in 2010 Derby match against rivals Caps United in a BancABC super8 Cup Final win and got a man of the match award. On 28 February 2011, he scored two goals in Dynamos' 3–2 victory over CAPS United in the Bob 87 Super Cup Final. Dynamos went on to win double, the 2011 League title and the inaugural Mbada Diamonds Cup. During his stay at Dynamos FC, Gutu was the club’s top player before moving to Kalmar FF in Sweden.

Kalmar FF
On 20 September 2011, Swedish club Kalmar FF confirmed that they had reached a deal with Dynamos Harare regarding Gutu, as of 1 January 2012 he would go on a six-month loan to Kalmar, together with Pape Diouf from Dakar UC, Senegal. On 14 March 2012, Kalmar FF announced that they had decided to purchase both Gutu and Diouf before Allsvenskan had started, on a four-year deal Gutu is the first Zimbabwean footballer to play in Sweden.

International career 
He was capped by Zimbabwe at the under-17, under-20 under-23 levels and the Zimbabwe senior National team. He has won The Cosafa Cups with the Zimbabwe under 20s team in South Africa 2007 and went on to captain Zimbabwe under 17 team which won the Cosafa Cup in Namibia the same year, as well as winning The Cosafa Cup with Zimbabwe senior National team as hosts in 2009. In 2011 Gutu was part of the Zimbabwe CHAN team in Sudan , he scored in the second game of group stages to help Zimbabwe beat Ghana by one goal to nil . Archford Gutu is currently the youngest Zimbabwe National Team player to ever make their debut at the age of 16 years 175 days old.

International goals

Football academy scandal 
On 24 February 2023, Gutu travelled to Dubai with his family and a 17-player delegation from his own youth football academy in Zimbabwe, having made the players promises of playing a series of friendly matches in the UAE and getting scouted by several clubs, including his former side Kalmar FF, in order to receive offers for trials and professional contracts. Each player reportedly paid 1,300 USD to join the trip, which was originally set to last two weeks, and a further 1,200 USD for accommodation and food.

However, the team only played two matches, as the players eventually got their passports confiscated by the management of the hotels they were residing in, because of their inability to repay defaulted expenses. While nine players managed to return home, the remaining eight ones were left stranded in Dubai, together with Gutu and his family, for three more months.

Reports about the group's status surfaced on Zimbabwean media in May, after the players had received assistance by compatriots based in the UAE, who had also accompanied two of the team members to the Zimbabwean consulate in Abu Dhabi and worked with parents to settle hotel balances and visa-overstay fines. The following month, the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe reached out to the players and their families and informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: the national government eventually covered hotel bills and arranged the return flight to Zimbabwe, with each member of the team having to pay an extra amount of 2,500 USD in repatriation costs.

Gutu also received accusations by a ZIFA spokeperson, who stated that his academy had not been registered with the federation at the time of the delegation's departure for Dubai, nor had it obtained permission to travel outside Zimbabwe for business-related reasons.

References

External links 
 
 
 Eliteprospects profile
 
 Archford Gutu at Footballdatabase

1993 births
Living people
Footballers from Harare
Zimbabwean men's footballers
Zimbabwean expatriate men's footballers
Zimbabwe men's international footballers
Zimbabwe men's under-20 international footballers
Zimbabwe men's youth international footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Dynamos F.C. players
Kalmar FF players
Cape Town Spurs F.C. players
IFK Värnamo players
Allsvenskan players
Superettan players
Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in Sweden
Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in South Africa
Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden
Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa
2011 African Nations Championship players
Zimbabwe men's A' international footballers