Faz's Erick Mwanza says George Lwandamina is the right CHAN coach

The Football Association of Zambia (Faz) has named George Lwandamina as the coach of the country's African Nations Championship (CHAN) team.

Lwandamina, who was assistant to former national team coach Herve Renard, will take charge of the CHAN squad only.

The new CHAN boss led Zambia to the second round of 2007 Under-20 World Cup in Canada and is currently in charge of local side Kabwe Warriors.

"We are very confident he will deliver. He's been with the national team for the last three to four years," FA spokesperson Erick Mwanza told BBC Sport.

"He took our under-20 to the World Cup and the bulk of those players constitute the Chipolopolo today.

"He's worked on the local scene for a long time.

"This appointment does not cover the Nations Cup qualifiers but it's in respect of the Chan only."

His first job will be to prepare the squad of locally-based players for a two-legged qualifier against South Africa that will decide who goes to the CHAN finals in Sudan next year.

The first leg is set for South Africa on the weekend of 21-23 May with the second leg two weeks later.

Mwanza added that there has been overwhelming interest from coaches around the world in the Chipolopolo job, including from the likes of Liverpool legend Ian Rush, former Togo coach Otto Pfister and Nigerian Samson Siasia.

However so far there has been no interest from Zambian coaches.

"We are going to take the time to get the best man for the job," he said.

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