Zambia appoint new coach

Phiri coached Zambia's league champions

The Zambian Football Association, Faz, has made Patrick Phiri head coach of the national team.

Phiri, who is a former under-20 trainer for the Chipolopolo, replaces Dane Rould Poulsen, who left following the African Nations Cup in Mali.

Phiri, who this season coached Nkata to the Zambian league title, will be assisted by Fighton Simukonda, who is boss of local premier side Konkola Blades.

Phiri's first job in charge will be to pick the new squad for the Cosafa Cup games which begin for Zambia next month.

Zambia did not get out of the group stage in Mali

Faz president Evaristo Kasunga revealed that he had made the appointments based on management record.

"We appointed the two coaches after taking into consideration their performance," he stated.

"I believe the new coaches have the capacity to deliver because they have been with the national team before."

Kasunga added that if money was available, Faz would also appoint a technical director, who would be a non-Zambian national.

When Phiri was in charge of the under-20 side, he took them to the under-20 World Cup for the first time in their history, in 1999.