Nation Dube for Hwange return

Fungai Muderere, Senior Sports Reporter
CASTLE Lager Premier Soccer League returnees Hwange will again be compelled to tinker with their technical team amid revelations the club has considered a number of Caf A holders to hire, chief among them being Chipangano legend and former coach Nation Dube.

Zifa implemented standardisation for local football coaching that requires all top-flight coaches to possess a Caf A licence at the beginning of the 2017 season. Chipangano’s head coach Bongani Mafu, who recently made a return in anticipation of steering the coal miners’ 2023 campaign after he jumped ship to assist former Warriors skipper Benjani Mwaruwari at Ngezi Platinum Stars in March last year, is a holder of a Uefa B coaching certificate.

Mafu, who officially returned to Hwange early this year, played a significant role in helping the coal miners to bounce back to the country’s elite football league and his assistant Try Ncube, who eventually got Hwange promoted back to the PSL, is also short of qualifications to coach in the top league since he has Caf B.

The football motherbody, which last held a Caf coaching course in 2017 is insisting that head coaches in the PSL and their assistants must be holders of Caf A. A number of assistant coaches and support staff were “ejected” to the terraces after failing to get accredited as they don’t have requisite qualifications.

Zifa technical development chairperson Kenneth Mhlophe is on record saying they were simply making sure that clubs adhere to Fifa/Caf Club Licencing requirements. In that regard, sources within the Hwange corridors told this publication that Dube was among the coaches set to take over in the Chipangano technical trench. Dube was sacked by Hwange towards the end of the 2019 season just before they were relegated from the PSL.

Contacted for a comment Hwange administrator Khumbulani Mbano said: “We have to follow and work within the Zifa parameters. The club will consider a number of coaches within its radar and Nation Dube is one of the people that will be considered for the job. We will need a coach or coaches who know the club philosophy and it will not surprise me if Nation Dube is hired by the club management. But to be frank, the club has considered a number of coaches and as the secretariat, we are waiting to be advised by the executive on the way forward.”

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