Renowned talent scout and coach Wieslaw Grabowski has died. Grabowski passed away Wednesday in his native country Poland.
Grabowski played a big role in football development in Zimbabwe through his excellence in identifying and nurturing talent. He started off with Darryn Textiles which then merged with Tornadoes to form Darryn T. Through his Darryn T project, he discovered the likes of Norman Mapeza, Lloyd Chitembwe, Edelbert Dinha, Gift Muzadzi, Alois Bunjira and Stewart Murisa among others.
Grabowski also facilitated European moves for Shingi Kaondera, Dickson Choto, Musareka Jenitala, Costa Nhamoinesu and Takesure Chinyama.
He was assistant coach of Poland’s national team at the World Cup finals in 1978. He was Zambia’s coach from 1983 to 84. Grabowski was in charge of the Zimbabwean under-23 team that won the silver medal at the 1995 All-Africa Games.
In March 2002, Grabowski was appointed as the coach of the Zimbabwe national team. Earlier that year, he was Zimbabwe’s caretaker coach for a three-nation tour of the Middle East.
He was sacked in May 2002 by the Zimbabwe Football Association after a 0-2 defeat by Swaziland in a Cosafa Castle Cup quarter-final tie at the National Sports Stadium.
ZimSports Connect