Former Warriors coach Zdravko “Loga” Logaruisc’s contract with the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) was not performance-based, it has emerged.
According to The Sunday Mail, the contract guaranteed the 55-year-old Croat more than US$200 000 in salaries and perks during his short-lived tenure.
Logarusic’s contract, which ran from February 2020 up to Sunday last week when he was sacked, entitled him to an initial US$6 500 salary, which was raised to US$7 800 in his second year. He also enjoyed some good perks that came with it.
ZIFA paid the Croat US$30 500 signing-on fees before his unveiling in February 2020, with an additional US$6 100 being paid this year for the same purpose.
He also became the first Warriors coach to be paid 10 per cent of the US$550 000 of the Africa Cup of Nations qualification bonus, which translates to US$55 000.
This is despite the fact that it was Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas who set the foundation for the Warriors to AFCON. The Chicken Inn coach got nothing for his efforts.
Loga will be paid US$20 000 as severance pay for getting the sack since his contract was terminated before three months’ notice was given.
Acting ZIFA vice president Philemon Machana defended the contract, claiming the Croat had managed to bargain for his package.
Machana, who is also a ZIFA board member in charge of finance, denied allegations that Loga was sharing his wages with members of the executive.
Loga’s immediate predecessors Sunday Chidzambwa and Joey Antipas, respectively, were never offered anything close to what the Croat received from ZIFA. Machana argued it wasn’t necessary to compare. He said:
You don’t say, as an example, if someone comes in and bargains for a better package, you cannot return and say, ‘why are you giving my successor ten times more?’
As ZIFA, we are open to constructive criticism, but it is bad when some people make unfounded claims that Loga was sharing his salary with board members without providing any evidence to substantiate that.
People should not lie and just try to destroy other people’s characters for the sake of it; those with evidence of corruption must prove it.