Serbian coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic is the new Chipolopolo head coach.
According to media reports, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) technical committee has settled for the former Uganda national team head coach.
Micho peeped former Mozambique coach and Portugal International Abel Xavier and Ivan Jacky Minnaert of Belgium to the Chipolopolo top job.
The Chipolopolo top job has been vacant since the departure of Belgian trainer Sven Vandenbroeck in February 2019. Green Eagles boss Aggrey Chiyangi has been acting in the interim capacity.
His appointment, however, is dependent on approval from the Ministry of Sport.
The Ministry will, however, do well to act fast as reports have emerged that the Moroccan side Hassania Agadir has tabled a lucrative offer to the Serbian gaffer to take over the vacant head coach role of the club.
Apart from Sredojevic being the Chipolopolo fans’ preferred choice, he has had tremendous success on the continent since his first arrival as a budding coach in 2001.
Since then he has won five championships in Uganda, eight in Ethiopia and one title each in Tanzania, Sudan and Egypt, which adds up to 16.
His tenure as Uganda head coach was also a big success as Uganda attained their best ever position on the FIFA rankings, 62nd out of the 209 FIFA Member Associations in January 2016.
Micho also guided Uganda after a 38-year-old jinx to qualify for the biggest continental football fiesta – the 2017 African Cup of Nations where they only managed a point as they held Mali to a 1-1 draw.
The 16 trophies Micho has won:
SC Villa Kampala (Uganda) Uganda League Champion x3 (2002, 2003, 2004)
Kakangulu National Cup x1 (2002) Cecafa Club Championship x1 (2003)
Saint George (Ethiopia) Ethiopian League x5 (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010)
Cecafa Club Championship x1 (2010)
Ethiopian National Cup x1 (2009)
Ethiopian Super Cup x1 (2009)
Young Africans (Tanzania) Tanzanian League x1 (2007)
Al-Hilal (Sudan) Sudan League Champion x1 (2010)
Zamalek (Egypt) Egyptian Cup (2019)
Im happy to hear that Micho has been given the job. I feel he will take our National Team further. Teams no longer fear playing Zambia. We lost respect. This is a Coach who likes to play offensive Football and his experience in the African continent can not be overlooked. I wish he had come before the AFCON Qualifiers.
Lets give him time to settle and not expect miracles right away. Let FAZ give him a good local Coach who is open minded to work with him. Not someone who will be plotting against the Coach behind his back.
On this FAZ WELL done. Just hope the Minister of Sport or Govt wont be interfering in the running of Football in the Country
While Micho is a good coach with African coaching experience and can perform at the highest level, He left South Africa and Orlando Pirates in haste after being accused of inappropriate behaviour towards a female hotel staffer. They are looking for him to exculpate himself so i wonder what will happen should Zambia have to face Bafana Bafana or travel for a competition that side. Hope
FAZ has this sorted.
I believe the Srbian is yet to accept the offer. So at the moment its not yet confirmed if he will be the Coach. Keeping my fingers crossed.
From Enock Mwepu
Hey all!
The key to a successful training camp has to be training hard, and we can have no complaints at all in that regard! Another day has been ticked off, and we’ve followed the hard day yesterday with another intensive one today.
We had a short but intensive training session in the morning. We did our warm-up then the coach split us up into different groups depending on our positions. Defenders concentrated on stopping opponents, midfielders on keeping the ball and the strikers on finishing, of course.
We came back for lunch, which was just as good today as ever. After lunch I had to rest a little bit before we trained again in the afternoon. The afternoon session was a bit later today than it was before, at 16:00, so that we had a bit more time to rest. The focus this afternoon was on transitions and sprints.
It was tough, but a good test for me and for everyone. The coach told us it was going to be intense, and it’s up to us take on that challenge and show that we can handle it. We proved we are in good shape and there were no more injuries today, thankfully. Having said that, tomorrow is supposed to be a little easier, which should be good!
I’ll write again tomorrow to keep you updated! Till then!
All the best,
Enock
I am happy with this appointment. 2 year contract is okay with potential to renew. We need to up the manangement / administrative side of our game. cant afford not to use FIFA days for friendlies. Ba Minister also , dont be seen to be frustrating FAZ programmes.
At this point I’m just happy that we have a coach in place.
I feel happy for our new coach micho ,may the almight GOD guide him to take chipolopolo( the copper bullet ) as his team by doing so our country zambia will further.