The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) and the government are meeting on Friday, 25 November, to officially chart the path to hiring the next Chipolopolo head coach.
Chipolopolo is hunting for a new boss following the resignation of Aljosa Asanovic of Croatia in September.
“Today (Friday), the sports minister is meeting FAZ, who will officially brief him on the process and final three candidates,” FAZ spokesperson Sydney Mungala told FARPost.
“The meeting will be to agree on the payment stricture of the technical bench.”
FAZ and the Zambian government split the costs on the Chipolopolo coach’s salary.
FAZ, over a fought night ago, revealed a 10-man shortlist for the job.
Since then, there has been speculation as to who has made the final three-man shortlist.
WHO WILL BE ZAMBIA’S NEW COACH?
The names mentioned include ex-Chelsea and Ghana coach Avrum Grant of Israel, plus two former Chipolopolo coaches.
Wedson Nyirenda, who coached the Zambia national team from 2016 to 2018 and is now at Ferroviario Beira in Mozambique, is one of the names reportedly on the final shortlist.
The other candidate is current Tanzania coach Honour Janza who was in charge from 2014 to 2015 and was the last boss to take Chipolopolo to the AFCON in 2015 in Equatorial Guinea.
Meanwhile, Chipolopolo assistant coach Moses Sichone has been in interim charge since Asanovic quit in September.
Sichone has so far overseen two games, both away friendlies, with the first one on September 23 against Mali, which Zambia lost 1-0 in Bamako and followed that up with a 4-2 loss to Israel on November 17.
Asanovic, who was appointed in January on a four-year deal, quit citing late payment of his salary from FAZ.
Meanwhile, the next Chipolopolo coach’s first official match will be a 2023 AFCON Group H qualifier doubleheader against Lesotho next March.
Zambia is battling to end a seven-year absence from the tournament after falling short in the last three qualifiers.
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