‘I felt like a prisoner’

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter—
SUNDAY Chidzambwa says he felt like a prisoner on death row for the three years he carried the Asiagate ban load on his shoulders and is relishing the freedom he has been given and will try to use it to make another mark on the domestic football landscape. The country’s most successful football coach was this week cleared by ZIFA to return to work on the local scene after his ban, for life, for his alleged involvement in the Asiagate match-fixing saga was lifted by the association.

Chidzambwa made history as the first coach to take the Warriors to the Nations Cup finals, ending the country’s 23-year wait for a dance with the heavyweights of African football, by guiding the senior national team to the continent’s biggest football festival.

It underlined his status as the best Zimbabwean football coach of all-time given that he had, five years earlier, also guided Dynamos to the final of the African Champions League only to lose to Ivorian giants, ASEC Mimosas, in controversial fashion.

Chidzambwa has also won more league titles than any other coach in this country, guiding his beloved DeMbare to seven championships, after turning to coaching following the premature end of his distinguished career because of a serious injury.

He was also part of the coaching staff of the Dream Team of the ’90s, which held the nation spellbound, and came within 90 minutes of qualifying for the ’94 World Cup finals before a loss in Cameroon ended their charge.

But, in the last three years, Chidzambwa’s reputation as the ultimate football hero in this country has suffered following his ban, for life, by ZIFA for his alleged role in the Asiagate match-fixing saga.

The ban, though, was not endorsed by FIFA, which kept giving Chidzambwa’s fans the benefit of the doubt that their hero was certainly not a villain and, in the past three years, the coach has been battling to clear his name and return to the game that he loves.

This week, he was given the green light by ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze to resume his coaching career on the domestic scene when the country’s football leadership lifted his life ban after he was interviewed by a committee set up by the Association to close the case.

Yesterday, Chidzambwa spoke, for the first time, about the torture he endured in the past three years and said this was not the time for him to fight those who banned him but just to let bygones be bygones because the game needed everyone to play a part to help lift it from its quagmire.

“It felt like I was in prison, someone waiting to be hanged, and it was very tough for me because I am someone that a lot of people have been looking up to, for a very long, as an example — the young coaches, the players, etc,” said Chidzambwa.

“So, against that background, it was tough to live with this accusation that I had done something so horrible, something that is not wanted, at any cost, in our game.

“I am relieved that I have been freed from it all and I feel like a new person and I am happy to be back in football because I have always been a football person.

“I grew up in football and my life has always been about football, I eat football, sleep football and that has been my life since childhood.

“I don’t hold grudges against anyone. What is done is done and we all have to move on.

“I have the attitude that let’s all work together for our football to improve.”

Chidzambwa said he was ready to help football in his country again.

“It simply means I can now coach in this country and play my part in helping our football move forward,” said Chidzambwa.

“I would love to work in this country and for our football. I can work anywhere — whether it is a club or a national team. I don’t mind.”

The last time he coached the Warriors, they lifted the COSAFA Cup in 2009 after thrashing Zambia 3-1 at Rufaro in the final, the last of his collection of silverware.

“I think I achieved a lot because I grew up in good hands. I was coached by numerous good coaches before and after Independence.

“When I broke my leg I assisted many coaches such as Mick Poole, Peter Nyama (late) and John Rugg.

“But the person who really made a big difference in my coaching career was Reinhard Fabisch.

“I was one of his assistants and I learnt a lot from him.

“He taught me everything from how to manage a team, coach a team, and prepare a training session.

“He taught me a lot that man during the days of the Dream Team.”

Chidzambwa said Zimbabwe has had too many coaches in charge of the Warriors and it was time that the country gave a coach more time to work with the team.

“In football there is need for continuity and not to change coaches like clothes the way we are doing in this country,” said Chidzambwa.

“When I qualified for the Nations Cup, I told the nation that we had never qualified for the finals and I don’t know what happens there and what will happen when we get to Tunisia.

“It was our first time as a country and so I told the nation that we were going to learn and make sure we go to the next Afcon finals.

“But it turned out that there were some people who felt that we should win the Nations Cup, in our first battle there, and they were unhappy that we narrowly lost to Egypt (1-2), we scored three goals against a very strong Cameroon, who were the defending champions, and we beat Algeria.

“Among the teams who were there for the first time, we were rated the best performing side but, still, some people were unhappy because they wanted us to win the tournament and, when we came back home, there were a lot of problems.

“In football there is no short-cut and I felt that was not football.

“I was being criticised for not bringing the Afcon Cup home, can you believe it, and I left.

“Coaches should be given ample time to build a team.

“If you look at world champions Germany, they have used few coaches in the past 30 years, and they have been rewarded for their patience and vision and we should do the same.

“People here want instant results. Dynamos were patient with their last coach, even though he was young and look, they had four league championships, and that shows that patience pays.”