Five days ago on Tuesday October 24th 2023, Botswana Football Association (BFA) announced it has parted ways with men’s senior national team head coach Mogomotsi Mpote.
The Zebras’ head coach had been at the helm for just one year of his three-year contract when he was shown the door. Mpote’s firing came as a shock to many among local football supporters.
Prior to his firing, he had a week earlier led the Zebras to a win over Swaziland. Given his team’s impressive showing, many believed that he had finally found a formula to crack the Zebras winning formula.
However, his long list of target misses had seemingly caught up with him. In a press statement announcing his departure, the BFA said the decision to part ways was taken ‘following an internal assessment and evaluation of where the Botswana senior men’s national football team is.’ “… the Zebras are currently not where we want them to be,” part of the statement reads.
While Mpote was just a year into his contract, indications are that the BFA felt he would never reach the targets they had set for him. When he was given the Zebras head coach seat, he was set four targets.
The first was to take the Zebras to the 2024 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) finals. Unfortunately, Mpote and his Zebras stumbled at the last hurdle. With just Madagascar between them and the debut CHAN finals, they stumbled and faltered. They lost 1 – 2 on aggregate after losing 0 -1 at home and playing to a 1 – 1 draw away in Madagascar.
His second target was to get the Zebras within the top 30 ranked teams in Africa. While no time limit has been set, his team is still far from reaching the target. They are currently ranked 44th in Africa and 148th in the world.
In Mpote’s plate of targets, as set by the BFA, both these targets were not reached. His other targets were to win the COSAFA Cup as well as to qualify the Zebras to its second Africa Cup of Nations in 2025. Whether he would have reached the two targets remains to be seen.
Of concern however is the timing of the coach’s firing. As the BFA statement acknowledges, he is fired at a time when ‘the Zebras will be entering a ‘difficult and demanding’ period as they attempt to qualify for the 2025 AFCON and 2026 World Cup finals.’
On the 16th of November this year, the Zebras will start their attempts to qualify for the 2026 Football World Cup when they take on Mozambique here in Botswana. Five days later, they will be away to Guinea, still in the World Cup qualifiers.
“Parting ways with Mpote has not been an easy decision and as BFA we have no intention to make light of it all. The decision was taken with the interest of the Zebras at heart. All of us at BFA would like to wish Mr Mpote well in his future coaching career,” reads part of the BFA statement. Given the critical moment the Zebras is entering, the BFA further added that its National Executive Committee, ‘led by its president Mclean Letshwiti, has already started a process to ensure the Mpote’s successor takes over the Zebras’ reins in a seamless way.’
