Former Barcelona football club and Nigeria national team winger Emmanuel Amunike has advised the Football Association of Zambia to consider hiring a local coach for the vacant Chipolopolo coaching job following the resignation of Croatian trainer Aljosa Asanovic over alleged unpaid salary arrears.
Amunike who was unveiled on Thursday morning as Zambian Super League side Zanaco football club consultant to coach Kelvin Kaindu’s Techincal bench said it’s time Africans began to trust and develop their coaches.
I have always emphasized that we as Africans have to start developing our own. If we have a Zambian that can lead the team [Chipolopolo] to the promised land, let us give him the opportunity.
But also we should have patience with him because with all due respect, we Africans when we bring our product, we are the first to pull them down, but when we have foreign coaches, we praise them,
Amunike was quoted by the Zambia Daily Mail Newspaper
The former Super Eagles wing wizard who guided Tanzania to the first Africa Cup of Nations appearances in 39 years in 2019, has urged Zambians to have patience with local coaches and respect them just as they do with expatriate coaches.
The Football Association of Zambia who have changed six coaches for the national team in the last six years are currently looking for a new coach to fill up the vacancy left by Asanovic before the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers resume in March next year.
Kabwe Warriors coach George Lwandamina and current Mozambican topflight side Ferroviaro de Beira football club manager Wedson Nyirenda are among the list of coaches who had a stint at the national team since 2016, which also includes Nkana coach Beston Chambeshi, Green Eagles’ Aggrey Chiyangi, Serbian trainer Milutin Sredojevic, Belgian’s Sven Vandenbroeck and most recent, Asanovic.
However, stakeholders such as the Zambian government through the ministry of sports have given FAZ the greenlight to hire a local coach, a thing which has led three former Chipolopolo coaches openly express interest to take the job. The three include Nyirenda, Lwandamina and Patrick Phiri.
