Kaitano Tembo reveals why he left Warriors technical team for full-time club coaching

Kaitano Tembo has explained why he opted to return to full-time club coaching after serving as an assistant coach and interim head coach of the Zimbabwe senior men’s national team.

Tembo was appointed to the Warriors technical team in September 2025 as an assistant to Michael Nees.

He continued in the same capacity under Marian Marinica before taking over as interim head coach after the Romanian coach stepped down in April this year.

ZIFA subsequently appointed an entirely new technical team led by Spanish coach Ramón Catalá, while Tembo was assigned to the Under-20 national team.

The former Warriors international later took charge of South African National First Division side Venda Academy on a two-year contract.

Explaining his decision to leave the senior national team setup, Tembo told FarPost that he wanted to return to regular, day-to-day coaching.

“Look, for me, I just wanted to be a little bit back on the day-to-day coaching because when I was the assistant coach as well as an interim coach, it was not permanent,” he declared.

“You know, it was through getting call-ups. That’s what happened. But I just managed to make that decision because I just wanted to come and make sure that I coach regularly soon.”

Tembo also explained that the vision of Venda Academy influenced his decision to join the club.

He said discussions with club president Robinson Ramaite and chairman Itani Munzhelele convinced him that he could contribute to the project.

“Look, I think the most important thing for me was the conversation that I had with the president [Robinson Ramaite] as well as the chairman [Itani Munzhelele] in terms of the vision of the club.

“So I thought I could be the one who can also come and contribute towards that vision. I’m very grateful that they also think I could be the right person to contribute to that vision and take the club to another level. It’s not just a decision that I made.

“I had a look at good facilities as well in terms of a clubhouse; there are also training fields that are being built. So I think it’s a project that I’m quite happy to be involved in.”

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