By SANDRA MWILA –
STRUGGLING FAZ Division One north side, First Quantum Minerals (FQM) has fired head coach Israel Mwanza.
Mwanza has since been replaced by Clarence Sichondwe, who takes over the team in an interim capacity.
Club vice secretary Kenneth Nkhoma said the club parted ways with Mwanza on Monday owing to FQM’s poor run in the league.
“On Monday we parted company with our head coach Israel Mwanza. To be sincere, the team has not performed well this season and we would love to do better and hence we made this decision,” Nkhoma said.
He said Sichondwe will take charge of the club and will be assisted by Geoffrey Chifwambo, who is also team manager.
Sichondwe is no stranger at the club having held the position of head coach when he helped FQM win promotion to the FAZ Division One. But he had to leave the club as he was an employee of FQM and the executive wanted a neutral person as coach.
“This is not the first time that Sichondwe will be heading the club, he was the coach that helped the team get promoted to Division One but we had to part ways because he is also an employee of FQM and we wanted a neutral person,” he said.
He said the executive is looking at engaging a new coach to be at the helm and have started receiving curriculum vitae’s from interested parties.
Nkhoma said the club has not improved since the 2014 season that saw them struggle to survive relegation.
“The team has just not been performing well and we would like to engage a new coach to be at the helm of the team. Last year we struggled against relegation and this season we suffered the worst defeat against Chambeshi losing 3-0,” he said.
FOM are currently in the 12 position on the log with eight points while last season they finished in the similar position after surviving relegation.