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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
RETURNING Castle Lager Premier Soccer side Shabanie Mine will play their season opener against champions Caps United without a coach after Zifa re-emphasised there would be no reprieve for unqualified coaches.

Shabanie Mine will play host to Caps United at Maglas Stadium in Zvishavane on Sunday.

The Shabanie Mine executive met a fortnight ago and resolved to defy Zifa by confirming Taku Shariwa as head coach despite him falling short of the national association’s requisite qualifications to head a Premiership club dugout.

Zifa is this season enforcing a requirement that all Premiership head coaches be in possession of at least a Caf A Licence in line with the new club licensing system.

Shariwa, who was with Mutare City Rovers last season, is a holder of a Caf B coaching badge.

Emerging from a meeting held on March 16, Shabanie Mine chairman Elias Marufu reiterated his club’s earlier position of retaining Shariwa as head coach.

“We have faith in our current head coach and he is the one to take charge of the team in the Premiership. If there is going to be anything then we will cross the bridge when we get there,” Marufu said then.

However, on Wednesday Marufu declined to say what steps they will take now that Shariwa has officially been banned from the dugout.

“I have no comment,” was all Marufu could say before dropping his phone.

Zifa spokesman Xolisani Gwesela said the national association’s move to implement strict standardisation for local football coaching is part of a cocktail of interventions to improve the quality of the game in Zimbabwe.

He said the move is a basic requirement under the Fifa Club Licensing system and a person without a Caf A Licence will not be allowed to sit on a Premiership club bench.

“There is no room for leniency and we’re implementing Club Licensing to its fullest. No unqualified coach will be allowed to lead a club. There won’t be any special treatment. We’re not going back on that. Only Caf A Licence holding coaches and assistants will be allowed on the team’s technical bench,” said Gwesela.

Most PSL teams have moved to comply with Zifa’s directive.

The only people exempted to coach in the PSL without a Caf A Licence are championship winning coaches. Goalkeepers’ trainers are expected to have goalkeeping coaching certificates.

Under the new Zifa requirement, First Division coaches are required to have a Caf B badge as a minimum requirement, while their assistants should have a Caf C or Zifa Level Four licence.

In the Second Division, a coach should have a Caf C Licence, while assistants are required to have a Level Three qualification as a minimum standard.

The coaching standards have also cascaded down to Division Three, tertiary institutions and schools. For secondary schools, a Zifa Level Two badge is now mandatory and primary school football coaches should now hold at least a Level Two certificate.

Meanwhile, Bantu Rovers are yet to name their substantive coach after Zifa turned down Agent Sawu’s English FA International Coaching Licence, which according to the FA’s education services administrator Kelly Sharp, is equivalent to a Uefa B badge.

Sawu attained the qualification in 2007, but still chose to attend a Caf B coaching course in December last year in a bid to comply with local football authorities.

The legendary former Zimbabwe Saints, Dynamos and national team hitman has been conducting the Premiership returnees’ pre-season training sessions alongside Rovers’ director of coaching Methembe Ndlovu.

Ndlovu who won the championship with Highlanders in 2006 could be forced to return to the dugout.

Rovers held a meeting last night where they were expected to finalise the head coach issue after receiving a number of CVs.

Fixtures

Matchday One

Saturday, April 1: Harare City v Yadah FC (National Sports Stadium), ZPC Kariba v How Mine (Nyamhunga), Ngezi Platinum v Black Rhinos (Baobab), Chapungu v Triangle United (Ascot), Bantu Rovers v Chicken Inn (Luveve), Tsholotsho FC v Hwange (Dulivhadzimu)

Sunday, April 2: Dynamos v FC Platinum (National Sports Stadium), Shabanie Mine v Caps United (Maglas), Highlanders v Bulawayo City (Barbourfields).

@ZililoR