Highlanders coach appointed Zimbabwe coach

The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) has appointed Highlanders FC gaffer Brito Baltemar as head coach of the Warriors.

ZIFA announced this in a statement published on its official Twitter handle. Brito Baltemar Jose Oliveira will lead the senior men’s team with immediate effect until June 2024. On Tuesday, ZIFA wrote to Highlanders requesting to engage Brito as Warriors head coach.

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Speaking after appointing Brito, ZIFA said:

“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.

“The Normalisation Committee (NC) settled for the trio after an extensive recruitment and consultative process based on regional, continental, and global confederations’ guidelines. The NC set the coaches’ term of engagement to end at the same time with its mandate so that the next board will have the opportunity to recruit its own coaches.”

Brito, Mafu and Mangombe’s first assignment will be the invitational match to celebrate Botswana’s Independence Day on 30 September. They will then mould a team that will compete in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in November, ZIFA added.

Yesterday, Highlanders fans objected to the move to recruit Brito as Zimbabwe Warriors head coach. ZIFA has assured local football fans that Brito and Mangombe will still coach their clubs:

“ZIFA would like to thank Highlanders FC and Dynamos for allowing their coaches to serve the nation. The coaches will remain with their clubs and will be reporting for national assignments as and when required to do so.”

Brito coaches Highlanders while Mangombe leads Dynamos. Mafu was suspended two weeks ago by Premier Soccer League side Hwange FC after a series of poor results.-iharare