Botswana Football Association (BFA) spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane, says the national football team- Zebras’ coach, Adel Amrouche, is scheduled to depart his home country (Belgium) to Botswana in the next two days.
The last time Amrouche was on the touchline for the Zebras was back in November 2019 when they lost 1-nil to Algeria in an Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier encounter in Gaborone.
The Belgian tactician was recently linked with a possible move to South African Premier Soccer League (PSL) giants, Kaizer Chiefs, but he has since rubbished the rumors citing his commitment to his current job with the Zebras.
In a brief interview with Voice Sport this week, Mpatane said they have finally managed to book a flight for the coach to return to Botswana on the 15th of October 2020. “We have finally booked a flight for Adel after a series of failed attempts. The coach will be joining the team shortly,” he said.
According to Mpatane, the Zebras coach left the country in September 2020 due to family reasons. “The coach left for Belgium early in September as he had stayed for seven months without seeing his family, and now countless efforts have been made to book him a return flight and the only flights we managed to find have been inconveniencing in terms of the arrival times. However, we managed to find the right one, and he’ll be departing Belgium on the morning of the 15th and will arrive at night,” he said.
Quizzed about the Covid-19 mandatory 14-day quarantine Mpatane said special arrangements were being made to classify the coach under essential services and use his test results from Belgium. “Furthermore, we also have two of our international players in quarantine and we are working to get them to the team on time,” Mpatane added.
Amrouche who has been in charge of the Zebras since August 2019 announced his provisional squad a week ago and the national football team has been in camp under the guidance of the Under-20 national team coach, Keitumetse Paul and Kagiso Tshelametsi.
Meanwhile, the Zebras are expected to play against Zambia on home soil and followed by a return leg in the Afcon qualifiers between the 9th and the 16th of November 2020.
