HARARE – A nomadic coach who has never kept a job for more than two years has been named as the new coach of the Zimbabwe national team.
Croat Zdravko Logarušić was sacked as coach of Sudan in November last year after almost two years in charge.
The 54-year-old coached clubs in Kenya, Tanzania, Angola and Ghana before his first job as national team coach with Sudan.
The Croatian has a UEFA Pro Licence and a CAF A Licence.
ZIFA president Felton Kamambo said Joey Antipas, Lloyd Mutasa and Under 23 coach Tonderai Ndiraya would be assistants to Logarušić. Former Zimbabwe Saints goalkeeper Pernell McKop will join the set-up as the goalkeepers’ coach.
Kamambo told a news conference in Harare on Wednesday: “He’s a very experienced coach – 20 years of coaching. He has coached in most of the continents and can speak English quite well.”
ZimLive has found no evidence that Logarušić has coached in “most of the continents”. He was a youth coach at several Croatian clubs between 1988 and 1995, before he moved to Africa in 2009 to take charge of King Faisal Babes in Ghana’s premier club division.
He left them a year later for Ashanti Gold in the same league, lasting just a year. He moved to Kenya in 2012 to take charge of Gor Mahia but left them a year later for Simba SC in Tanzania.
He left Simba SC after just one season to join AFC Leopards in the same division, again lasting just a year. He left Leopards for G.D. Interclube in Angola for the 2016 season.
He would return to Ghana in 2017 to take charge of Asante Kotoko S.C. At the end of his first season with them, he left to take charge of the Sudan national team.
Logarušić has signed a two-year performance-based contract, ZIFA said.
Logarušić will face a baptism of fire in his first competitive match when the Warriors face African champions Algeria in a back-to-back CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on March 23 and 30 respectively.
