Francis Kimanzi (born 29 May 1976) is a Kenyan

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach who manages Wazito.

Playing career

Kimanzi played club football for

Mathare United Mathare United Football Club is a professional association football club, based in Nairobi, Kenya. They currently compete in the Kenyan Premier League, the top tier of the Kenyan football league system, and won their first league title during the ...

between 1994 and 2002, before becoming manager.

Coaching career

Kimanzi was appointed full-time manager of the Kenyan national side on 11 December 2008, having held the post as a caretaker since May 2008. He was sacked from the post of national team coach after the

2008 CECAFA Cup The 2008 CECAFA Cup was the 32nd edition of the football tournament that involves teams from East and Central Africa. All matches were played from 31 December 2008 to 13 January 2009 at the National Stadium, Kampala, Uganda. Information * orig ...

in January 2009 due to disputes between him and Kenyan football administrators. After a one-year spell coaching club side

Sofapaka Sofapaka Football Club (Sofapaka: Sote kama Familia kwa Pamoja Kuafikia Azimio – Kiswahili: ''We as a Family together to achieve a goal'') is a football club, based in Wundanyi, Taita Taveta County. They play their home games at the Wundan ...

, he was reappointed as head coach of the Kenyan national team in November 2011. In June 2012 he was sacked as manager of Kenya alongside his entire coaching staff after Kenya failed to qualify for the 2013 African Nations Cup. After coaching Tusker, he returned to

as manager in 2015. In August 2019 he was linked with a return to the Kenya national team. He returned to the Kenyan national team as manager in August 2019. Kimanzi has publicly spoken out against foreign coaches in Africa. In October 2020, he was dismissed from coaching Kenya. In November 2020 he became manager of Wazito.

References

1976 births Living people Kenyan footballers Kenyan football managers Mathare United F.C. players Kenya national football team managers Association footballers not categorized by position {{Kenya-footy-bio-stub