HARARE – The Zimbabwe Football fraternity (ZIFA) is set to recruit a new Warriors coach as Norman Mapeza’s contract is said to have expired at AFCON.
Norman Mapeza was hired as the interim coach for the Warriors last year after former coach Zdravko Logarusic was fired. His contract was further renewed so that he could cover the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Cameroon.
ZIFA’s acting head of secretariat, Xolisani Gwesela confirmed the development saying;
Mapeza’s contract was for this tournament. It was an interim arrangement that was made between him and ZIFA and I can confirm the contract ended at the tournament.
However, it might sound too early now for me to comment further. We will advise the nation of the way forward at the appropriate time.
Meanwhile, former Warriors and Dynamos coach Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambga wants Norman Mapeza to continue as the national team coach.
Chidzambga believes that despite Norman Mapeza’s failure to revive the Warriors’ 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign or to reach the knockout stages of the 2021 AFCON finals in Cameroon, he still should be given a chance to continue as the Warriors coach.
Speaking on Warriors’ poor performance, Chidzambga revealed that one of the reasons why the national team fails their matches at tournaments is due to lack of continuity in the technical department.
“The other problem is that we keep changing coaches, we don’t believe in continuity.
So it becomes difficult for us to progress as a football nation under these circumstances. Look at Germany, how long have they been with Joachim Löw, 15 years.
I believe Mapeza should be given the chance to continue and we put the right systems in place if we are to succeed as a nation,” he said.
