Dominic’s over E200k pay for idle Sihlangu
MHe is a lucky
BABANE – man.
The Eswatini Football Association (EFA) will spend over E200 000 on the national team and Head Coach Dominic Kunene in salaries while there is no activity for the next seven months.
This comes after the postponement of the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifiers to next year in March. Sihlangu will be out of action until they face Cape Verde in March next year.
Sihlangu coach Kunene earns about E30 000 per month and he will continue getting his salary, despite the team being out of action. Kunene will be monitoring players as the season is set to get under way in September.
Most national team’s coaches all over the world will be on break for the next six months except for those whose countries will be playing in the FIFA World Cup billed for November and December in Qatar.
Senegal, the 2022 AFCON winner, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia have qualified for the World Cup which will take place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18.
The third and fourth rounds of qualifying for the 2023 AFCON Cup, which has been postponed to 2024, has its qualifiers also rescheduled to March 2023. Match days five and six
COSAFA CUP:
Botswana 2-0 Sihlangu Senegal 1-1 Sihlangu Sihlangu 2-0 Lesotho Malawi 1-1 Sihlangu Mauritius 0-3 Sihlangu
2023 AFCON QUALIFIERS:
Eswatini 1-2 Burkina Faso Togo 2-2 Togo
CHAN 2022 QUALIFIERS:
Botswana 0-0 Sihlangu Sihlangu 2-2 Botswana
will be held in June with the sixth day set for September.
MONITORING
A source close to the matter said despite the team not being in action, there are other duties of the coach, including monitoring players during their games. The source added that he will also be observing the national Under-20 squad that is set to play in the COSAFA Under-20 Championships billed for October.
Sihlangu is from a busy schedule in the past six months as they have played seven games this year. They played in the 2024 AFCON Qualifiers where they were drawn in Group B against Cape Verde, Burkina Faso and Togo.
They had so far played two games in the qualifiers settling for a 2-all draw against Togo on June 3, and lost 1-3 to Burkina Faso in their second clash of the qualifiers. They will return to face Cape Verde next year in March.
They also played five games in the COSAFA Cup held last month in Durban, South Africa, where they reached the plate tournament and lost to Botswana.