Pascalinah Kabi
MASERU — Fading giants Lioli Football Club are set to appoint a coach from Zambia to improve their waning fortunes, the Sunday Express can reveal.
Lioli FC public relations officer Moeketsi Pitso said on Friday that negotiations to engage the Zambian coach were still ongoing.
Should the deal go through Lioli would become the first premier league side to employ a foreign mentor.
Lioli finished a disappointing eighth on the Vodacom Premier League log in the just-ended season.
Before then, they came second in the 2009/2010 season and were hoping to improve on this during the past term.
Pitso said the Zambian coach, whose name and profile they are keeping under wraps for now, is competing for the job against two local coaches, Katiso Mojakhomo and Retšelisitsoe Lephaila.
“We are looking for a coach and two locals have already applied while we are also in negotiations with one Zambian coach,” he said.
“Only our president can be able to give you his (Zambian) details because all correspondences are handled by him.”
In a separate interview, Lioli president Lebohang Thotanyana however said they could not reveal the name of the coach because that would discourage the locals interested in this position.
“We are unable to give you the details of the coach because some of the local applicants who are as qualified as this person might shy away,” Thotanyana said on Friday.
“We will officially announce the names of the applicants and their profiles next week together with the Zambian coach you are making enquiries about,” he said.
Pitso said they wanted to engage a professional who could help Lioli regain its status by winning both the premier league and the knock-out cups for next season.
“Lefa wants all premier league teams to be coached by qualified persons hence we have already started looking even outside the country.
“We are looking for a qualified coach whom we will have to look into their background before making any decisions.
“The background will be based on their qualifications, previous performance, teams coached and the successes they enjoyed from their previous jobs,” Pitso said.
He said Thabile Secker, current Lioli caretaker coach, will remain part of the Lioli technical team even after the hiring of a new coach.
“Ntate Secker will still be one of the technical team members.”
Secker took over as the caretaker coach after Halemakale Mahlaha was fired in March because of poor results.
Comments are closed.