The Liberia Football Association has unveiled Mario Marinica, a Romanian, as the new head coach of Liberia’s senior men’s national football team, the Lone Star.

Marinica’s first match as head coach will be in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 preliminary round. 

Liberia will learn her opponent on Tuesday, 20 February, from the draw that will take place in Cairo, Egypt. 

Marinica, a UEFA Pro Licence coach with over 28 years of experience in coaching at both club and national team levels, signed a two-year contract with the task of qualifying the Lone Star for the 2025 AFCON final tournament. 

He will also work with the technical department to identify and develop young potential talents domestically and internationally.

Marinica, along with his two foreign assistant coaches, Clwyd Jones and Ronald D. Moroka, as well as a physical therapist, Chikondi Mandalasi, were unveiled at the association’s headquarters on Monday, 19 February. He will later choose two local coaches, including a goalkeeper trainer, to work with.

Marinica declared that his philosophy is centred on winning, and he will consistently work with flexible plans and strategies to achieve the desired outcome. He acknowledged that Liberians and supporters are dissatisfied with the team’s lack of victories in recent years, and it’s crucial to secure a win and qualify for the 2025 Nations Cup.

In November 2021, Marinica was appointed as the Technical Director of the Football Association of Malawi on a three-year contract. He led the Malawi team to the last sixteen of the Cameroon 2021 AFCON, but unfortunately, they were eliminated by Morocco at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaoundé.

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