Dan Shikanda issues update on Aussems' future at AFC Leopards

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FKFPL Dan Shikanda issues update on Aussems' future at AFC Leopards

Festus Chuma 15:06 - 20.05.2023

The 57-year-old former Simba SC coach was appointed in February 2022.

AFC Leopards head coach Patrick Aussems is not going anywhere, the Ingwe chairman Dan Shikanda has said.

Shikanda laughed off speculation that Aussems might not coach Ingwe beyond the 2022-2023 season and moved to nip reports and rumors in the bud that the Belgian's contract comes to an end of the season.

Aussems had been strongly linked with the managerial post at Nepal national team, which Vincenzo Alberto Annese has since occupied.

However, Shikanda has revealed that the Belgian gaffer's current deal is set to expire at the end of the 2024-2025 season.

"All that is speculation, it was even said that he (Aussems) would not come back and was headed to Rwanda. As far as we are concerned, this is our coach, he has another two years to clear, he is going nowhere," Shikanda told Pulse Sports.

The chairman added that there would be no interference with the team selection next season as it has been presumed before that the club officials usually call shots regarding player recruitment.

"We have been using youthful players, now it is time for us to give him an opportunity to reap the fruits of the team he is building. Let him also sign players and build a squad, he has brought up so many youngsters who were unknown before," Shikanda added.

"By the time his contract ends, he would have brought in his players and we would have seen what he can do. I am a chairman who played football and I cannot allow another team whose chairman never played football to play better than my team."

AFC Leopards' transfer embargo lapsed in January, and the club will have a free hand to register new players when the window opens at the end of the season.

Ingwe had been operating on a lean squad, and coach Aussems had to promote their youth team players to the team.

The experienced gaffer has had a mixed bag of results in the past two seasons, but the height of it has been the Mashemeji Derby win over Gor Mahia for the first time in seven years.