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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Highlanders and FC Platinum coach Pieter de Jongh’s romance with African football is set to continue after he was appointed Somalia national football team coach over the weekend.
This is the Dutchman’s second national team job in Africa, having coached Eswatini in 2018.
De Jongh has also coached several clubs in his home country Netherlands.
The expatriate coach first came to Zimbabwe to coach Highlanders in September 2019 and lifted the Chibuku Super Cup with the Bulawayo giants.
The following season he joined league champions FC Platinum hoping to guide the club in the Champions League.
But that dream did not last long after the Dutchman was advised that his qualifications were not compatible with CAF licensing, and therefore could not sit on the bench during the continental matches.
This left FC Platinum with no choice but to part ways with the eccentric coach.
He was laid off by the Zvishavane side at the end of 2020 after CAF refused to grant a waiver to coach in the Champions League without a CAF coaching license or a similar European badge.
De Jongh was not amused by the development. But a year later the coach is smiling again after he landed the top coaching post in the East African country.
The expatriate coach posted a video on his Twitter page excited about his new role. He said he was happy to begin “another challenge in Africa, where the weather and everything in Africa is nice”.
De Jongh is expected to help the Somali national team, which is among the worst-ranked national teams at a distant 194th on the FIFA rankings, to chart their way up the ladder.
Somalia, at worst, have been a hopeless case when it comes to football. The previous coaches have been given mandates to stop losing by higher margins in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The East African minnows are trying to rebuild their football and have even revamped their national stadium, having spent years playing away from home due to civil unrest in the country.
Interestingly, Somalia stunned Zimbabwe in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers preliminary round in 2019 when the Ocean Stars beat the Warriors 1-0 at a neutral venue, Djibouti.
The Warriors had to dig deeper at home in the reverse leg to edge out the minnows. Somalia recently completed refurbishing Mogadishu National Stadium to a modern facility. It was arguably the worst football stadium in the world because of civil unrest.
The stadium last hosted an international match in 1988. It was used by the Islamic militant Al-Shabaab group, between 2008 and 2011, as their base.
Somalia hopes that by roping in the Dutchman de Jongh, they will continue to make small strides in improving their football.
Online Reporter