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Garthly Chipuka

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
NEWLY promoted Premier Soccer League side Bulawayo Chiefs have identified unheralded Garthly Chipuka for the position of head coach as the club complies with Zifa’s standardisation of coaches.

Chipuka, a Caf A coaching badge holder, will take over from Thulani Sibanda, who guided the club to the Premiership after winning the 2017 Zifa Southern Region Division One Soccer League title without a loss.

Chiefs were facing a coaching dilemma, as their 2017 head coach Sibanda and assistant Mduduzi Mpofu are ineligible to sit in the dugout since they are not holders of Caf A coaching badges.

Zifa have pronounced that there would be no backtracking on standardisation of coaches and those affected have to register for Caf programmes that resume next month.

Dumisani Mantula-Sibanda, Chiefs’ secretary, said negotiations with Chipuka are at an advanced stage.

“Our preferred candidate for the position of head coach is Garthly Chipuka. Thulani Sibanda recommended him to us, having worked with Chipuka in 2014 at Northern Region Division One league side ZRP FC. We believe that the telepathic understanding of Sibanda and Chipuka is what we need going forward. Chipuka has agreed to our offer and should be joining us once he is cleared at his work place,” said Mantula-Sibanda.

Chipuka got his Caf A badge last year. He was in the same class that had Shabanie Mine’s Takesure Chiragwi, Bulawayo City’s coach Darlington Dodo, Chicken Inn assistant coach Prince Matore, former Black Rhinos gaffer Stanford Mtizwa, Lloyd Chitembwe of Caps United and How Mine’s Bethithemba Ndlovu.

Meanwhile, Mantula-Sibanda said they will re-assign Mpofu and Sibanda. The two have been taking the squad through their pre-season training.

Besides the Caf B badge, Sibanda is a holder of a Scottish C-Licence and a Sports Science degree from the National University of Science and Technology (Nust). With three First Division titles under his belt, Sibanda has now enrolled for a Uefa B-Licence that will be held at Edinburg University in Scotland in May 2018.

His first championship in Division One was in 2011 when he guided now defunct Quelaton into the Premiership. Sibanda won the 2013 First Division title with Bulawayo Chiefs, but the club decided against playing in the Premiership and sold its franchise to Bantu Rovers.

“Sibanda and Mpofu are both holders of sports science degrees obtained over a period of four years. We will tap into their skills by reassigning them in the technical team. One will be our fitness trainer because they studied for that and the other may be the manager,” said Mantula-Sibanda.

@ZililoR