BFA wants ‘development’ coach
The Botswana Football Association (BFA) will soon begin the search for the new Zebras coach, with the mother body looking for a candidate strong in grassroots development.
BFA chief executive officer (CEO), Goabaone Taylor said the recruitment process will begin soon, with the appointment expected before the end of the year. “The recruitment process will be initiated soon. We hope to have appointed in Q4 (last quarter) of 2021.
The BFA will seek to appoint a capable coach that is able to entrench the national football philosophy of Botswana and build a solid talent development pathway that is built from grassroots and ultimately contribute to the national team’s performance,” Taylor told MmegiSport.
She could not say if they will restrict recruitment to local coaches. “We will be looking for a capable individual regardless of race, gender or affiliation,” Taylor said. The BFA is in search of its sixth coach in the last 10 years, with Stan Tshosane, Peter Butler, the late David Bright, Mogomotsi ‘Teenage’ Mpote and recently, Adel Amrouche, taking turns at the helm. BFA president, Maclean Letshwiti also reiterated the need to hire a coach with strong grassroots development skills.
“We are exploring our options as an organisation. We are no longer stressing about the
national team, we are stressing about building a national team, so a coach must fit that scenario.
We want to prepare a national team right from Under-17 to the Premier League. It’s more on building the national team than spend more money on an existing national team. We want to spend money on the future national team,” Letshwiti said.
“We are looking for a director for the national teams. It will be from the bottom-up,” he said. Mpote has been widely mentioned as one of the front runners for the job and has handled junior national teams in the past.
However, the BFA has proved in the recent past that there is no room for popular sentiment
after the association hired Taylor as its CEO. Little was known about Taylor, but the BFA gave her the nod despite several high profile candidates who were considered football people.
The new Zebras coach will have his or her work cut out as the national team has sunk to number 150 in the FIFA rankings. Interest in the team is waning and a candidate who will inject belief is needed. The Zebras were last in the top 100 under Butler in 2016 when they reached number 87. Their best performance was recorded under Tshosane who remains the only coach to take the team to the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in 2012.