WARRIORS’ prospective coach Tom Saintfiet could cost Zifa US$90 000 before he even takes up his job.
His contract with the Namibian Football Association whom he has reportedly fallen out of favour with, is alleged to have a clause that compels him to pay US$90 000 if he wants out. Under the same token, if the ouster is induced by NFA, they have to pay him through the nose a sum of between US$300 000 and US$400 000 in severance package.
It is no secret that the national association is yet to get to its feet financially.
Zifa have over the past three weeks been busy with the hunt for a substantive national team coach. The list has drawn some names from abroad with varying successes in the game. Locals have also been included in the interviews that have been held.
While Zifa have remained tight-lipped on the names, sources in both Namibia and Zimbabwe have confirmed that the Belgian national has emerged as the leading candidate so far.
Agency reports yesterday said Saintfiet who was into his second year with NFA in a four-year contract, had received a call from association boss John Muinjo informing him that he no longer enjoyed the support of the national body.
“Muinjo said I had failed him and I am on my own, and I am no longer his man,” Saintfiet was quoted as saying.
“He asked me to consider whether I should jump or if I prefer to wait to be pushed. This is not about the result in Gambia because I never had a friendly match or any preparations with the team. It is about the link to Zimbabwe.
“I do not know where I failed when my task is to take Namibia to the 2012 Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea,” said Saintfiet.
The Belgian travelled to Gambia, one of the smallest nations in Africa last weekend and lost 3-1.
Thirteen of his players in Banjul had not kicked a ball in almost six months and another six foreign stars had joined the team on the eve of the match.
The Namibian coach and his locally-based players were stranded for two days en route to Gambia.
It is said relations between Saintfiet and Muinjo soured when the coach publicly attacked NFA for their failure to organise friendly matches.
Saintfiet has had a successful stint as Namibia coach losing just three of his 13 matches. One of his most memorable results was a 4-2 win over Zimbabwe, the team he is eyeing to take over in a 2010 World Cup qualifier. He beat the Democratic Republic of Congo 4-1 in a friendly match and a 1-1 draw with a South African team that was heading towards playing host to the World Cup finals saw his stock grow this year.
While the nation is expectant of a new list of coaches to be finalised on Saturday, Norman Mapeza who with Madinda Ndlovu, had emerged as leading candidates for the assistant coach’s job, posted a good result in Monrovia in the country’s opening Africa Cup of Nations match on Sunday.
Zimbabwe, according to sources in Windhoek, Namibia, yesterday is not the only destination that is beckoning for the 37-year-old coach. There have also been inquiries from Asia with an Indian team said to be pestering him for a contract.
On Tuesday, Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede told our Harare correspondent that Mapeza was still to be interviewed for the job.
“We were secretly hoping that on our return from Liberia, the technical committee would have finalised on the national coaches’ assignment but I know they were interviewing some people and I will have to check whether they completed the task . . . Mapeza himself is still to be interviewed,” said Gumede.
(Unedited from http://www1.chronicle.co.zw)
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