Former Chippa United manager Norman Mapeza has emerged favourite to land the vacant coaching job of the Zimbabwe national team according to kickoff South Africa.

The Warriors dismissed Zdravko Logarusic following a winless run in their opening two games in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

A home draw to Bafana Bafana and an away defeat to Ethiopia brought the former Asante Kotoko manager’s record to a disappointing one win from 14 matches.

In search of a replacement, ahead of next month’s back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Ghana and AFCON finals in January, Norman Mapeza has been identified as the ideal candidate.

Mapeza previously coached DStv Premiership side Chippa United where he oversaw some impressive results before his departure in March last year after 20 games in charge.

Mapeza also played for Ajax Cape Town at the twilight of his career as a player after a decade-long spell in Europe where he featured in the UEFA Champions League.

The 49-year-old also has 92 caps for the Zimbabwe national team in a spell that ran from 1993 to 2001.

Other names mentioned for the Zimbabwe job has been former SuperSport United coach Bruce Grobbelaar, Callisto Pasuwa and Charles Mhlauri.

However, it appears Mapeza is the prime target though an agreement would need to be reached with his club FC Platinum – who are competing in the CAF Champions League.

Benjani Mwaruwari is also expected to remain as an assistant coach despite being appointed just before the last two games and then being swept out by the same broom that took out the previous technical team led by Logarusic.