Former Eswatini Coach De Jongh Joins Highlanders In Zimbabwe

Dutch coach Hendrik Pieter de Jongh has found a new job, one year after leaving his role with Eswatini (Swaziland) by mutual consent.

He has returned to club football and is likely to sign a two-year contract before the end of this week with Zimbabwe Premier League side Highlanders.

The 48-year-old left Eswatini after both parties agreed to terminate his contract after he failed to qualify the small South African nation to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

He joins the Castle Lager sponsored league side which is hovering just above the relegation zone.

De Jongh , who speaks fluent English, was born on December 8, 1970 in Asperen, Holland and played for NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam.

He ventured into coaching in Africa in 2004 with Kenyan Premier League side AFC Leopards leading them to the final of the Cecafa Cup in Sudan as well as the Top 8 Cup final in Kenya.

After partying ways with the Kenyan side, he took charge of FC Cape Town in South Africa but left in less than a year to head to Rwanda where he was the Football Federation of Rwanda technical director.

A year later he left Rwanda job to take up the head coach position with the Eswatini national team. He lasted just five months.

He took up a job with SuperSport as a pundit in African football based in Kenya from January 2018 to the end of the year.

He was also CAF technical advisor (youth development) based in Cairo, Egypt, from June 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018,

De Jongh holds UEFA A, B and C coaching badges, a youth trainer coaching diploma and a FIFA technical director certificate all licensed by KNVD (Royal Dutch Football Association).