ZIFA has trimmed the shortlist for the Warriors coaching job to three candidates ahead of the final phase of the recruitment process next week, which will culminate in the big announcement of the next coach.
More than 180 applications were received for the vacant job to coach the senior national team, with Zifa last week shortlisting five candidates after the first round of interviews.
The list of shortlisted candidates, which was initially leaked to the media before an official announcement days later, included three German nationals, a Spaniard and a Brazilian.
Winfried Schäfer, who has an Africa Cup of Nations winners medal with Cameroon, Antoine Hey and Michael Nees are the three Germans on the list.
Brazilian Marcio Maximo Barcellos and Spaniard Gerard Nus make up the shortlist.
Zifa general-secretary Yvonne Manwa yesterday told NewsDay Weekender Sport that the list had been trimmed down to three, with the final round of interviews set for Monday before the big announcement later in the week.
She, however, refused to reveal the names of the three finalists for professional reasons.
“We now have the three finalists, but we have not done the final interviews,” Manwa said.
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“We cannot reveal their names at this point after what happened last week. The list was leaked before we had even finished the process.
“We had not even informed all the involved parties when the list was published. It happened way faster than what we were supposed to do. We are keeping the names close-chested for now.”
Added Manwa: “We just have to finalise the process first before announcing anything because even those that did not make it have not been notified. So imagine them reading it in the newspaper. We are on it.
“We are actively involved in trying to finalise it. The proposed plan is to do the interviews on Monday, but remember, there are a lot of stakeholders involved, so if they can make it on Monday, we will do it.”
With the Zifa normalisation committee promising to conclude the process early next week, the new technical team will start work towards preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers that start in September.
The Warriors will face Cameroon, Kenya and Namibia in the qualifiers, which will all be played between September and November for the ticket to the Afcon finals in Morocco next year.
Zimbabwe have not had a substantive coach since they were banned by Fifa in February 2022 over government interference.
Portuguese coach Baltemar Brito, Norman Mapeza and lately Jairos Tapera have been hired on interim basis since last year.
Zifa said it remained committed to appointing the most qualified and capable coach to lead the Warriors.
All the coaches on the list have impressive CVs, with Schaffer the most experienced of the lot having coached Cameroon to Afcon glory in 2002.
Nus worked at Liverpool as a youth team coach as well as for Brighton Hove Albion academy.
Hey is well-versed with the African terrain having coached Rwanda, Kenya, Liberia, Lesotho and The Gambia.
