BY Kevin Mapasure
Zifa have appointed Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas as the Warriors caretaker head coach in a short-term contract expiring at the end of the year.
Antipas will be assisted by Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya and the now Harare City coach Lloyd Chitembwe.
Zifa expect to name a substantive coach, who is likely to be a foreign national, in January next year.
The move to hire local coaches on an interim basis has been necessitated by financial constraints as the soccer mother body cannot afford to pay a foreign coach who will demand to be paid in US dollars.
Zifa announced the interim set-up that will take charge of the team in the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Africa Cup of Nations qualifier matches against Zambia and Botswana next month, as well as the preliminary round of the Fifa World Cup qualifier against Somalia.
Zifa released a statement yesterday announcing the new development.
“Acting on recommendations of technical development committee, the Zimbabwe Football Association executive committee has appointed Joey Antipas as the caretaker head coach of the senior men’s team until December 31, 2019,” the statement reads in part.
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“Under-23 coach Tonderai Ndiraya and Lloyd Chitembwe have been appointed as assistant coaches for the same period
“Highlanders’ Tembo Chuma is the new goalkeepers’ coach for the senior national team.
“All members of the technical team will remain with their Premier League clubs and only serve as national team coaches when there are assignments.
“Wellington Mpandare remains the team manager.
“The new technical team set-up comes in following, first the resignation of Sunday Chidzambga on the eve of back-to-back African Nations Championship qualifiers in August, and the dissolution of an interim technical team led by Rahman Gumbo.
“The immediate task of the technical team is a two-legged preliminary World Cup qualifier against Somalia between 2 and 10 September 2019.”
A number of foreign coaches have since forwarded their curriculum vitae to Zifa as they bid to land the job on a permanent basis.
Zifa will delay appointment of a foreign coach until they receive their allocation of funds from Caf.
