D-DAY FOR COACH DOMINIC
... EFA set to decide out-of-contract technical bench’s fate today
MBABANE – Out-ofcontract national team Sihlangu Head Coach Dominic Kunene will know his fate with the squad today.
This is according to an impeccable source close to the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) technical committee, which is responsible for evaluating the performance of the coach.
The body forwards a detailed report to the local football mother body to scrutinise it.
The former Young Buffaloes coach’s one-year contract with EFA expired on March 31 this year, alongside his technical bench.
The EFA had brought in Green Mamba award-winning Coach Ernest Mavuso and former Royal Leopard mentor Sifiso ‘Nuro’ Ntibane as assistants to Kunene and erstwhile Sihlangu skipper Dennis ‘Denmark’ Fakudze as physical trainer.
Expired
The trio was engaged on a twomonth-long contract which expired last month too.
Their assignment was the Sihlangu’s 2025 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations two-legged preliminary round against Somalia, which they won 5-2 on aggregate.
The EFA President, Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane, was recently quoted saying that they were waiting for the technical committee to submit the report before discussing the future of Kunene with Sihlangu.
The source, however, revealed that the technical committee had submitted their report to the EFA for discussion.
“The coach’s future will be discussed tomorrow (today) at the executive committee’s usual meeting,” the source said.
Meanwhile, one of the technical committee members Dr Comfort Shongwe said he was not sure whether the report had been submitted to EFA or not.
“I am not sure, but they should have forwarded it by now because tomorrow (today) the executive is having a meeting,” Shongwe said.
The Hhohho Regional Football Association
(HRFA) Chairman highlighted that even though it was the executive committee (ExCo) routine meeting, the issue of the report would form part of it.
Coach
Kunene has endured a disastrous campaign in charge of the national side, with no win and a goal in six qualifying games in all competitions in 2023.
Comment
On the other hand, Simelane could not be reached for comment as his phone was unreachable when this report was compiled.
It is worth noting that EFA Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi ‘Rhoo’ Radebe said the matter of the coach was administrative when he was sought for comment.