NAIROBI, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan football club, AFC Leopards FC, is set to name a new coach on Thursday after narrowing down their shortlist to two foreign tacticians.
Club chairman, Dan Mule, confirmed on Tuesday that Argentine Rodolfo Zapata and Frenchman Didier Gomes are in the running to succeed Robert Matano who was fired last month after the team was knocked out of the 2018 CAF Confederations Cup in the preliminary round.
"We received many applications but we have settled on the two. We will be able to announce our final pick on Thursday," Mule told journalists in Nairobi.
The new coach will take over from interim boss Dennis Kitambi who is set to leave Ingwe for Bangladesh to reunite with his former boss at the Den, Stewart Hall, at Saif Sporting Club Limited.
"We have reached a mutual agreement with Kitambi. He will officially relinquish his role at the club on May 10," Mule underscored.
Hall brought Kitambi to Leopards in January 2017 when he was appointed as head coach before the Briton quit the club mid last season with the Tanzanian remaining to be Matano's assistant.
Zapata, 51, who is a former goal keeper, boasts of vast coaching experience in Africa including managing sides like Sunshine Stars FC of Nigeria (2010), Black Aces FC of South Africa (2011-2012) and Botswana's Gaborone United (2016 to date).
Gomes, 48, is also an experienced tactician in African football. The Ethiopia's Coffee FC head coach has had stints with Rayon Sports (Rwanda), Coton Sports (Cameroon) and Algerian sides CS Constantine and JSM Skidka.
Mule said the newly appointed coach will be expected to help the team, currently third in the Kenyan Premier League standings with 18 points from 10 matches to win a first domestic crown in 20 years having won the crown 12 times in their glittering history.
