FORMER Warriors head coach Callisto Pasuwa could be set for a return to international football following reports he will take over as Malawi national team coach on an interim basis.
The 52-year-old Mutare-born tactician is highly revered in Malawi where he has guided Nyasa Big Bullets to four successive league titles since moving to the Southern African country in October 2018.
It has now emerged, the Football Association of Malawi (FAM)'s technical sub-committee has recommended Pasuwa as the best candidate to take over the national team on an interim basis following the country's disappointing run in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifiers.
Malawi's senior men's national football team, which is popularly known as the Flames, is virtually out of contention to qualify for the continental championships to be hosted in Ivory Coast early next year after winning just one match in their opening four encounters.
Now Pasuwa is being earmarked to finish the qualifying campaign after FAM announced on Saturday they will not renew Romanian coach Mario Marinica's contract and that he will proceed on leave for the remainder of his one-year contract.
According to The Nation newspaper, several coaches were considered for the interim post but the technical decided to recommend Pasuwa.
An unnamed source confided with the publication: "A couple of names were thrown into the fray, but in the end it was resolved that Pasuwa should be recommended to the FAM executive committee."
The committee's acting chairperson Suzgo Ngwira-Simbi, who is also a FAM executive committee member confirmed the development but refused to reveal the name of the candidate.
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"It was recommended that the post should be advertised, but in the interim, a caretaker panel was recommended. However, I cannot reveal the names as this is just a recommendation to the FAM executive committee," she said.
Pasuwa's imminent stint with Malawi would be his second stint in international football after guiding the Warriors at the 2017 AFCON finals.
He has achieved unprecedented success in Malawi and was recently named the Coach of the Season at the 2022 Malawian Super League awards.
The Zimbabwean gaffer has now won eight successive league titles in Zimbabwe and Malawi to underline his status as one of the country's most successful coaches.
Prior to his move to Malawi, the legendary Pasuwa won four league championships with Zimbabwean football giants Dynamos between 2011 to 2014, a feat he has now remarkably replicated with Nyasa Big Bullets.
Pasuwa also guided the Zimbabwe Warriors to qualification for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations during his tenure as national team coach.
