adminEthiopia after just five months in charge.
Saintfiet lasted just a week as Warriors coach before he was deported from the country following a botched appointment by Zifa in which he had begun his duties before securing a work permit.
The 38-year-old coach’s deportation torched a circus in the Warriors dressing room as Zifa appointed two other coaches Norman Mapeza and Madinda Ndlovu to take charge just days before Zimbabwe played their first 2012 African Cup of Nations home qualifier against Cape Verde at the National Sports Stadium.
The Warriors inevitably paid the price for the confusion that surrounded the coaching department when putting on a lifeless show that yield a 0-0 draw against Cape Verde.
In the end the Warriors who finished the campaign third with eight points were left to rue the two points lost in that draw against the Blue Sharks as Mali ran away with the Group A ticket for a place at the nations Cup finals scheduled for Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next January.
Despite taking some legal action against Zifa in which he demanded compensation, Saintfiet had appeared to move on with life when took up the job of Ethiopia’s national coach.
But according to reports from Addis Ababa, Saintfiet quit his position just three weeks before Ethiopia play their first game in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
Saintfiet reportedly broken promises for his decision to quit the post.
“Despite the many positives, some agreements were not honoured and that is the reason for this decision,” Saintfiet said.
Saintfiet had been in charge for three African Cup of Nations qualifiers since June.
His achievements include a 2-2 draw with Nigeria that contributed to the Super Eagles missing out on a place at the 2012 African Cup of Nations.
Ethiopia finished third in the group and next play Somalia over two legs in mid-November at the start of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. It was Saintfiet’s third national team job after stints with Namibia who he also dumped in his bid to coach the Warriors.
“I am now looking forward to a bigger task. A job and task where I can work in a professional set-up and with a team which can qualify for the tournaments,” Saintfiet said.
Although his next destination remains unknown, Saintfiet appears to still appeal to some Zifa board members who had fought hard to try and have the Belgian installed as the Warriors coach before the
association settled for Mapeza. While Saintfiet is now job-hunting, there are no such worries for widely travelled Serbian coach Sredojevic “Micho” Milutin who left Edward Sadomba’s Sudanese giants Al Hilal and was on Monday unveiled as the new coach of the Rwanda national team.
The Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) named Micho as the new head coach of their national team with the confirmation being made before the Serbian took Amavubi through their first training session ahead of their two-legged 2014 Fifa World Cup preliminary round qualifier against Eritrea.
Micho is a winner of 10 league titles and three national cups working achieved while working in five African countries – Uganda (SC Villa), Ethiopia (Saint George), Tanzania (Young Africans), South Africa (Orlando Pirates) and lately Al Hilal.
In Rwanda, Micho replaces Ghanaian Sellas Tetteh the only African coach to win a world title after claiming the World Under-20 World championships cup with Ghana.
At Al Hilal, Micho looks set to be replaced by former TP Mazembe coach Diego Gazitto.
Micho, whose contract with Al Hilal was coming to an end, told The Herald from Kigali that he felt he had accomplished his mission with club football and had sought a fresh challenge.
“After finishing my mission in Sudan with Al Hilal and having various offers for the coaching job I decided to go to the country with the highest economical growth in Africa where I will get all the necessary support from all stakeholders to exhibit my coaching values and lift my African coaching career to the next level.
“After coaching five big clubs in five different countries I went for the challenge of the national team,” Micho said.
Online Reporter