አምስቱ የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ እግር ኳስ ቡድን እጩ አሰልጣኞች ዝርዝር ስም ይፋ ሆነ

by Collins Okinyo
The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) has shortlisted five coaches from the list of 27 applicants that applied for the national team coaching position.

The biggest surprise was the exclusion of Tom Saintfiet, who formerly coached Walia, and Serbian Petrovic, who had earlier been rated as favourites.

Reports have now placed former Ghana coach Goran “Plavi” Stevavonic as favourite to replace Sewnet Bishaw with the announcement set for Saturday in Addis Ababa.

Among the coaches shortlisted are Serbian Stevanovic, Lars Olof Mattson (Sweden), Diego Garzito (Italy), Mariano Bareto (Holland) and Zoran Filipovic (Portugal).

Profiles of shortlisted coaches:

Goran Stevanovic (Serbia)

He was appointed Ghana coach in 2011 and sacked on March 19 2012. On June 2013 Stevanovic was hired by the Greek Super League side Veria FC and he left the position in August 2013.

Stevanovic signed an one-year deal with Chinese side Qingdao Jonoon in September 2013 and was sacked at the end of 2013 season after Qingdo relegation to China League one.

Lars Olof Mattson (Sweden):

Mattson took charge of Sierra Leone National team in January 2011 and in March of the same year expressed his desire to remain in the job once his contract expired.

In 2011 Mattson’s contract was extended until the 2012 Afcon qualifying campaign. His appointment by the Sports ministry was not recognised by the Sierra Leone FA . However, after amicable agreement he was confirmed to the post in 2012.

On 28 March 2013, Mattson quit his job and announced he wanted to take a break from football. However, the Sierra Leone Football Association denied knowledge of the resignation.

Diego Garzito (Italy):

Born in Italy, Garzitto was raised in France, and spent his entire professional career in his adopted nation, playing as a defender for CS Louhans and Ajaccio.

After coaching in the lower leagues of France, Garzitto took charge of the under-20 Ethiopian national team, leaving the position in August 2001. He then took charge of the national team of Togo in July 2002 but left two months later returning to France.

Garzito took charge of Ethiopia national team in 2006 before resigning two months later where he joined TP Mazembe and took them to the 2009 CAF champions league title before coaching Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca.

Mariano Barreto (Holland)

He coached Ghana between 2003-2004, then coached CS Maritimo 2004-2005, Al Nasr 2005, Naval 2006-2007 and Al Qadisiyah in 2011.

Zoran Filipovic (Portugal)
Born in Titograd, SR Montenegro, SFR Yugoslavia made his name in Yugoslavia as a striker with Red Star Belgrade during more than ten seasons at the club (from 1969 to 1980).

He played a total of 520 games for the club, scoring 302 goals. He was the Yugoslav First League top scorer in 1976/77 season with 21 goals.

He also still holds the club record for most goals in European competitions – scoring 28 goals for Red Star in European Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and the Uefa Cup.

His first stop abroad was a season at Club Brugge in Belgium. In the summer of 1981, 28-year-old Filipovic joined the reigning Portuguese champions SL Benfica where over the following three seasons he scored 28 goals in 54 league matches.