U-20 manager fired

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 10:30:21 +0000

Daniel Jere dropped hardly one month before Junior World Cup

By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA

WITH less than a month to the Under-20 South Korea World Cup, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has fired Junior Chipolopolo team manager Daniel Jere.

Jere was yesterday replaced by Hastings Ndovi while Goodson Mbozi is the new equipment manager.

According to an inside source, the Under-20 players boycotted yesterday’s training as a protest against Jere.

Jere was allegedly accused of influencing player selection, among other issues.

“ The are a number of issues that Jere has been named in which include influencing the player selection and giving some Under-20 passports when instructed not to do so. The players boycotted training because it is alleged that he was influencing player selection,” the source said..

The source said FAZ had no option but to replace him.

“Some players were not happy. So FAZ had to replace the two to bring stability in the camp,” said the source.

Efforts to get a comment from Jere proved futile as his phone was switched off.

The Junior Chipolopolo have not yet been paid their Africa Cup of Nations winning bonuses. FAZ had submitted a US $198,000 budget for the allowances.

Meanwhile, head coach Beston Chambeshi is expected to name the 21-man final squad before Sunday.

The Junior Chipolopolo are scheduled to leave for a training camp in Spain and then directly connect to South Korea for the tournament next month.

Zambia is in Group C alongside Iran, Costa Rica and Portugal; the tournament kicks off on May 20 to June 11.