Who will coach Highlanders next year?

Lovemore Dube

THE million-dollar question in Zimbabwe football is who is going to coach Highlanders come January 1, 2024. 

Bosso parted ways with Baltemar Brito last week after the Portuguese led the team to a fifth finish this season. It is that same position the club occupied at the end of 2022 when he replaced Mandla Mpofu halfway through the championship. 

Brito finished with 54 points, three less than last year’s total and the club will be relieved that they won’t be parting with US$10 000 in salaries for the coach and his assistant/interpreter. 

Add winning bonuses of about US$1000 per match, Highlanders will make obvious gains from the departure and hopefully the replacement will be given more respect and paid better than locals have previously been treated. But it has to be within what the club can afford. 

The Highlanders executive is under pressure to appoint Brito’s replacement now. This will allow the coaches to find replacements of the departing players on time and not to rely more on free agents without much to give to the club.

Championships are won and lost during the first two weeks of the off-season as most coaches and administrators close shop only to open the following year when the best talent on the market has been snatched. 

Zimpapers Sports today looks at some of the names that keep on coming up on the Highlanders shopping list for coaches. 

LIZWE SWESWE, who nearly saved Gweru side Sheasham from relegation in the Premier Soccer League is among the odds-on favourites. 

Sweswe is a Bulawayo boy who knows the expectations of the city and community. When Highlanders does well the Bulawayo economy kicks. 

He has shown himself to be a good strategist using resources made available. At FC Platinum he won the league title against all odds with an FC Platinum side that played some good football. 

MADINDA NDLOVU could be probably be the best man for a rebuilding Highlanders. 

He has always shown guts by playing younger boys and it has been a masterstroke for the club. This is the perfect chance for Bosso to go into football business by a coach who is into football business and understands the culture of the club.  

Should Highlanders retain Madinda and thrust him on the hot seat, the club is assured of reaping rewards in the future. The promising crop at Bosso90 and a few young boys in the first team will get the exposure and grow as player and some will eventually be sold to help beef up club coffers. 

But it is his health that the club could spare and give him a role less strenuous to deal with scouting and directing development. 

THULANI SIBANDA better known as “Mr Bulawayo Chiefs” for his hate and love relationship with Amakhosi Amahle is another prospect. He has never hidden his ambition to coach Bosso. Sibanda’s advantage could be his familiarity with junior players and those from lower division sides in the region. A young coach with so much promise he could be Madinda’s best second in charge as he understudies the former Zimbabwe international. 

Sibanda’s strength is keeping the team together even in times of strife he can be relied on to stay on the field begging the boys to look at the broader picture which is playing their best for nothing and attract future attention for better deals where money is better. 

NATION DUBE showed some glimpses of why at some stage he was national team assistant coach when he led Hwange to survival. He came in as a broom boy at the beginning of the season to cover up for Bongani Mafu and Try Ncube who did not have a Caf A qualification. 

As Hwange struggled, Dube once thrown the gauntlet proved himself and took the club out of the ambers to a top 10 finish. 

Like Madinda, Sibanda and Sweswe he has a Caf A badge. Other names that could come into the mix are those of Mebelo Njekwa, Blessing Moyo, Saul Chaminuka, John Ncube, Sunday Chidzambwa, Moses Chunga and Tawanda Kaseke 

Chaminuka did well with Rhinos despite the relegation. He reached the semi-finals of the Chibuku Super Cup and has lived in Bulawayo before and is conversant with the Bulawayo football and life cultures. He speaks Ndebele, Shona and English. Could this be the time for Highlanders to consider beyond the imaginary divide and look at coaches like Lloyd Chitembwe, Chunga, Chidzambwa and Chaminuka? 

Moyo is assistant coach at high flying Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana who are in the group stages of the Caf Champions League.