Contracts and football coaches

I FIND it disheartening and unacceptable that reality is now resurfacing over the recruitment of some of the national team coaches.

This follows wide outcries by the soccer fraternity over the poor performance of the Chipolopolo boys since the recruitment of one Belgian, Sven Vandebroeck.

I rally behind the sentiments of football admintrators who now want the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) to bring stability to the national soccer team technical bench and stop the trial and error hiring of coaches by awarding a long term contract to the next Chipolopolo trainer if Zambia has to record better results.

On Monday, FAZ announced that it will not renew Sven Vandebroeck’s contract which comes to an end this month and also dropped assistant Chintu Kampamba.

Sven replaced Wedson Nyirenda last June and was awarded a performance-based contract with the target to qualify the senior team to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, which he failed to meet.

The Belgian needed more time to study the players, understand our culture and time to implement his philosophy.

But here is a person who joined the team when it was already in the war zone (Afcon qualifiers).

In future FAZ should at least sign an expatriate coach on a two-year contract to ensure he builds a results-oriented team.

FAZ should employ coaches on a long term contract to bring stability to the technical bench, especially an expatriate coach.

So the decision by FAZ not to renew Sven’s contract was expected as he failed to meet the target given.

Let us live up to our expectations as a results-oriented and soccer loving nation. MAILESS MSONI, Chingola.