Ian Kuziva Gorowa Dibango (born 16 November 1971) is a former

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, formerly managing South African

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

side

Moroka Swallows Moroka Swallows Football Club (often known as simply Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto in the city of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two ...

Playing days

Ian 'Dibango' Gorowa came to South Africa after playing for Dynamos and

Black Rhinos Black Rhinos Football Club is a Zimbabwean football club based in Harare. It is a Zimbabwe National Army owned team. They play in the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League.They are coached by Stanford 'Stix' Mutizwa. Their home stadium is Figaro Stadium ...

in his native country. He joined the now defunct

Cape Town Spurs A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. T ...

where he made a name for himself as an attacking winger. Unfortunately, his playing days came to an abrupt end at the relatively young age of 29 when he suffered a career-ending injury while playing for Spurs. He represented the Zimbabwean national team 26 times and scored 11 goals in the process. He played for Zimbabwe at the 1998 COSAFA Cup.

Coaching career

After his retirement he became Spurs' assistant coach. When Spurs merged with Seven Stars to form

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and m ...

, Gorowa was roped in by Ajax CEO John Comitis as one of the development coaches. He then went on to become the team's assistant coach. As assistant to Turk

Muhsin Ertugral Muhsin (also spelled Mohsen, Mohsin, Mehsin, or Muhsen, ar, محسن) is a masculine Arabic given name. The first person known to have the name "Muhsin" was Muhsin bin Ali, the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatimah bint Muhammad. Islamic term ...

, the ''Urban Warriors'' managed to win the 2007

ABSA Cup The ABSA Cup, formerly the Barclays Cup, is the current branding for an association football single-elimination tournament, cup competition launched in 2007 by the Football Association of Zambia. Participants are decided half-way through curren ...

—the club's first major trophy since 2000. He joined ''The Birds'' on a three-year contract in June 2007 to replace

Gavin Hunt Gavin Hunt (born 11 July 1964) is a South African former football (soccer) player and coach who currently manages Supersport United. He previously managed South African Premier Division, Premier Soccer League club Kaizer Chiefs. On 28 May 2021 ...

who moved to

SuperSport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the Dstv Premiership. United is known as ''Matsats ...

as replacement for

Pitso Mosimane Pitso John Hamilton Mosimane (born 26 July 1964) is a South African professional football manager and a former player. He is the current manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli Jeddah. He is considered as one of the greatest coaches in Africa an ...

who chose to take up a full-time job as

Carlos Alberto Parreira Carlos Alberto Gomes Parreira (born 27 February 1943) is a Brazilian former football Coach (sport), manager who holds the record for attending the most FIFA World Cup final tournaments as manager with six appearances. He also managed five differ ...

's deputy in the

Bafana Bafana The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international soccer and it is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. The team's nickname is Bafana Bafana (The Boys/G ...

dressing room. He later parted ways with the club and now works as an assistant coach at

Thanda Royal Zulu Thanda Royal Zulu was a South African football club based in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. History The club started after a Swedish consortium that included Sven-Goran Eriksson bought the franchise from Benoni Premier United at the end of the 2006 ...

. On 24 July 2013 he became the manager of Zimbabwe. He resigned on 6 August 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorowa, Ian 1971 births Living people People from Rusape Zimbabwean footballers Zimbabwean football managers Association football midfielders Moroka Swallows F.C. managers Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. managers Zimbabwe national football team managers Sportspeople from Manicaland Province Zimbabwean expatriate football managers