U-17 coaches confirmed

Sports Reporter
Zifa have confirmed the appointment of Zimbabwe Junior Football Association secretary general Lloyd Chigove as Under-17 head coach.

Chigove has been appointed the national team coach despite the fact that he is an elected official.
He will be assisted by Chicken Inn assistant coach Mandla “Lulu” Mpofu.

Former Hwange goalkeeper and coach Weekly Mwale, who has previously held an assistant coaching position in the Under-17, will be the goalkeepers’ coach while a Richard Mutasa will be the team manager.

The appointments were confirmed by the Zifa communications manager Nicky Moyo-Dlamini in a communiqué yesterday.

It is the appointment of an elected official to the position of national coach that has once against exposed Zifa’s lack of professionalism. There is a clash of interests as the juniors’ technical bench reports to the league. Chigove and Mpofu will lead the youngsters in the qualifiers of the 10th African Under-17 Championships that will be held in Morocco next year.

Their first hurdle will be Mozambique whom they meet in the first round first leg match over the weekend of 7-9 September with the return leg played two weeks later in Maputo. Winners of the first round will proceed to the second round where they will square off against Democratic Republic of Congo over the weekend of 12-14 October.

If the youngsters progress to the third and final round of qualifiers, they are likely to meet Egypt who have a strong junior policy and could be the stumbling block to Morocco’s ambitions.