HARARE – Romanian expatriate Marian Marinica resigned as coach of the Zimbabwe national football team on Monday, citing “personal reasons,” ZIFA announced.
Assistant coach Kaitano Tembo has been appointed caretaker head coach.
Marinica, who took over in November last year, oversaw the Warriors’ unsuccessful campaign at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco in December, where the team failed to win a match and exited in the first round.
In a statement, ZIFA said it had “accepted his resignation and thanks Coach Marinica for his contribution to the Warriors.”
“The Association wishes him well in his future endeavours,” it added.
Tembo, assisted by CAPS United coach Takesure Chiragwi, will lead the team at the Unity Cup in England in late May. The tournament will also feature Nigeria, India and Jamaica.
While speculation has swirled that Marinica fell out with ZIFA, a source at the association dismissed the claims.
“He was well liked here and the announcement came out of the blue. He had wanted a Romanian physical trainer after the Nations Cup, but we vetoed that on the basis that we had no shortage of those in Zimbabwe. It was not a deal breaker,” the source told ZimLive.
Marinica also had a fallout with Warriors captain Marshall Munetsi, who was left out of the Africa Cup of Nations squad, officially due to injury, despite insisting he was fit. Munetsi, who plays for Paris FC in France’s top flight, has not been called up since.
However, the ZIFA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to brief the media, said the Munetsi issue was “not a pressure point,” adding that the coach had been given full discretion over team selection.
“My hunch is he probably got a better job somewhere. We are not the greatest payers, to be honest. The next few weeks and months will tell,” the official said.
