The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) announced it would not be renewing current coach Jose Valinhos’ contract when it expires on December 31.

Chidzambwa, formerly known as Marimo, will be assisted by Shooting Stars coach Joey Antipas.

The two coaches were unveiled to the media at ZIFA House in Harare on Thursday.

With Brazilian Valinhos waiting to see out his contract, Chidzambwa and Antipas are expected to take charge of the Zimbabwe team that will host South Africa on November 30 in the Africa Nations Championships – a tournament designed for players from domestic African leagues.

The Brazilian, who was expected to be the architect of Zimbabwe’s qualification to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa and continental showpiece, the Africa
Cup of Nations finals in Angola, failed at the second of three hurdles for the two tournaments.

He flopped when he could only finish third behind Kenya and Guinea in the group qualifiers and a 4-2 drubbing by Namibia was the final straw. Zimbabweans were clear about that they had had enough of him and ZIFA.

Chidzambwa’s resume speaks for itself having won virtually everything on Zimbabwean soil as a player and years later as Dynamos coach. He was capped over 40 times for the country before and after Independence.

As Dynamos coach, he wrote himself a piece of history when he qualified for the African Champions League final in 1998 and in 1999 he was back in the business guiding the Harare outfit to the mini league stage of the same competition.

On his way to guiding his country to a first appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations finals played in Tunisia in 2003, Chidzambwa had won the country’s second COSAFA Castle Cup the previous year.