The Botswana Football Association (BFA) has confirmed the departure of Stanley Tshosane as the national team coach. BFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Keith Masters told this publication that the departed coach was handed a letter stating termination of his contract on Monday.
Information reaching Gazette Sport confirmed that the coach was dismissed due to what they perceived as poor results this year. The information states that the coach was given performance related targets in April in which he was supposed to qualify for the CHAN competition, to reach at least a semi final spot at the COSAFA Cup and to achieve a draw plus a win in the last two matches of the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers.
However, Zebras were eliminated by Zambia in the CHAN Qualifiers, they were eliminated in the group stages of the COSAFA Cup and also missed out on advancing to the next stage of World Cup qualification.
“In April we gave him our targets for the national team. The minimum targets that we expected were not met so we saw it fit to end our working relationship with him. His contract has been terminated and he received our termination letter gracefully,” said Masters.
The former Kent Football Association CEO confirmed that he delivered the termination document on Monday morning. Masters also revealed that they have not yet lined up a replacement for the departed trainer. “We have not set a time frame for identifying a successor as we have a lot of time on our hands to assess the kind of candidate who suits our long term plans,” the BFA CEO added.
Tshosane’s departure had been highly speculated since Tebogo Sebego took over the reigns as the BFA president last year. Reports had suggested that the former BDF XI coach was not in Sebego’s long-term plans. The rumour was fuelled by the fact that Tshosane had extended his contract last year during the David Fani presidency but when Sebego assumed the leadership of the association, he made it clear to the national team coach that he was not part of his plans.
Sources have revealed that Tshosane was aware that he did not fit the demands of the new leadership and had opened the door for an amicable separation if the association would avail his exit package.
The experienced trainer was in his third and most successful spell as the national team coach. His first two spells were as a caretaker coach in 2002 and 2008. He impressed the BFA enough to earn a three-year contract to lead the national team. Tshosane led the side to their first ever AFCON appearance in 2012, en route to the tournament he earned a nomination in the 2011 CAF Coach of the Year category while the Zebras were named the CAF Team of the Year.
In 2012, the coach endured a difficult season as his side failed to win a competitive game for the rest of the year. Among the disappointing results were an early elimination from AFCON 2012, failure to qualify for AFCON 2013 and a slow start to the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers. The results contributed to the coach’s demise according to Masters.
Tshosane’s technical team that consists of Kenneth Mogae (assistant coach), Thabo Motang (goalkeeper coach) and Patrick Zibochwa (welfare manager) among others are yet to learn their fate since the BFA confirmed the sacking of the head coach alone.
Efforts to reach Tshosane proved unsuccessful as his phone rang unanswered at the time of going to print.
Stan’s sacking confirmed
