Ex-Mourinho assistant Baltemar Brito takes over Zimbabwe job
The Zimbabwe Football Association [ZIFA] has settled for former Jose Mourinho’s assistant Baltemar Brito for the Warriors head coach gig.
Since July Zimbabwe has been operating under a normalisation committee that was put in place by FIFA. The four-member committee will run the affairs of Zimbabwean football for 12 months.
Former Chippa United tactician Norman Mapeza was the last Warriors coach. This was before the Southern African nation was placed under FIFA suspension.
A number of coaches including former Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs gaffer Kostadin Papic applied for the job. However, the ZIFA normalisation committee led by Lincoln Mutasa has settled for former Jose Mourinho’s assistant, Baltemar Brito.
WHAT ZIFA SAID ABOUT BALTERMAR BRITO
ZIFA confirmed the appointment of Baltermar Brito as the Warriors head coach until June 2024.
“The Zimbabwe Football Association is pleased to inform the nation that it has appointed Baltermar Brito as the head coach of the senior men’s team forthwith until June 2024,” said ZIFA.
“He will be assisted by Bongani Mafu and Genesis Mangombe. The Normalisation Committee settled for the trio after extensive recruitment. And a global consultative process based on regional, continental, and confederations guidelines.
“The NC set the coaches’ term of engagement to end at the same time as its mandate so that the next board will have the opportunity to recruit its own coaches.
The first task for the incoming coach will be the African Nations Championship [CHAN] qualifiers as well as the FIFA World Cup qualifiers which start in November.
THE WARRIORS WILL FACE BAFANA BAFANA
Zimbabwe was drawn in a tough group for the World Cup qualifiers along with Bafana Bafana.
The group also consists of Nigeria, Benin, Rwanda and Lesotho. Only the top team at the end of the round-robin qualifiers will automatically grab a ticket to the finals in 2026.
Zimbabwe will mark their return to international football with a date away to Rwanda before they host Nigeria in group encounters.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe does not have a CAF-approved stadium to host the qualifiers. Initially, ZIFA was targeting to host matches in South Africa. But sources say they chose to play the match in Botswana.
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