ZIFA appoints Brito, Mangombe and Mafu as national team coaches

The FIFA appointed ZIFA normalisation committee has officially appointed the coaches for the senior men’s team, namely; Highlanders FC gaffer Baltemar Brito, Dynamos’ coach Genesis Mangombe as well as the unattached Bongani Mafu.

This was revealed in a statement issued by the country’s football mother body on Thursday.

“The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) is pleased to inform the nation that it has appointed Baltemar Brito as the head coach of the senior men’s team forthwith until June 2024. He will be assisted by Bongani Mafu and Genesis Mangombe,” ZIFA wrote.

“The Normalisation Committee (NC) settled for the trio after an extensive recruitment and consultative process based on regional, continental, and global confederations’ guidelines.

According to the statement, “the coaches’ term of engagement to end at the same time with its (normalisation committee) mandate so that the next board will have the opportunity to recruit its own coaches.”

The Brazilian born-Portuguese gaffer, Brito and his assistants will square off against Botswana in the first assignment for the invitational match to celebrate Botswana’s Independence Day.

The match is slated for 30 September 2023 in Gaborone, Botswana.

Thereafter, the Warriors coaches will work on assembling a squad to compete during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers scheduled for November.

Brito has been appointed the Warriors coach one year three months after his arrival in the country from Portugal signing for the Bulawayo giants, Bosso.

The 71-year-old tactician who is a Uefa A holder, once worked with the veteran gaffer Jose Mourinho at Chelsea as well as FC Porto in Portugal.