In a bid to “empower” national football team coach Norman Mapeza, Zifa will send the gaffer to Germany for international coaching courses in June.
Zifa president Cuthbert Dube revealed this during the send-off ceremony for Under-20 coach Taurai Mangwiro who is also going to Germany for a coaching course.
“Immediately after the Mali reverse fixture, we will send Mapeza to Germany so that he gets the requisite qualifications that we require at Zifa,” said Dube.
The Warriors play The Eagles on June 5 at the National Sports Stadium.
Mapeza and his charges returned home from Mali on Tuesday morning where they lost 1-0 in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Mapeza, like a number of former players, holds a Caf C licence and it defies all logic why Zifa would elect to have somebody “learn on the job” for such an important national task.
Dube has come under a lot of criticism after he earlier this month unilaterally declared Mapeza substantive coach, taking over from Madinda Ndlovu.
“We were running in circles and we didn’t want a situation where we would go to Mali without a coach so I had to make a decision,” Dube justified himself.
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“In Africa we believe in progressive dictatorship. We were in a very desperate situation and, as they say, desperate situations require desperate measures. I have received a lot of criticism for the appointment, but the good thing is that the council approved it. There was no discussion about the issue at the council meeting, everyone just endorsed it,” added Dube.
Speaking at the same function, Dube also called on the government to get involved in the national team.
“The time has come for the government of Zimbabwe to come on board and help our football. In countries in North and West Africa, governments there pour a lot of money in football but here it’s different,” said Dube, who had to dig deep into his pockets to secure the $200 000 that was needed for the Mali trip.
Dube said Mangwiro was expected to leave for Germany on Saturday morning for a two-week international course which would run from April 4 – 21. The Germany Football Association has facilitated the course.
Zifa technical advisor Klaus-Dieter Pagels said his country would cater for all the expenses while the participants were expected to foot half of the airfares.
Twenty-five other countries, namely Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Ethiopia, DPR Korea, Ghana, Grenada, Honduras, India, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawi, Maldives, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia, are expected to take part in the course.
The course is aimed at coaches working within top level youth football. At the end of the course the students receive a certificate confirming their participation.
