Venda Football Academy has appointed 32-year-old Michael Loftman as their new Head Coach ahead of the 2022/2023 GladAfrica Championship season.
The English-born coach, who has made South Africa his home in recent years, has recently featured in the iDiski Times newspaper, providing excellent columns for The Drawing Board.
It will be his first Head Coach role in South Africa, but Loftman did previously work at Orlando Pirates between 2018 and 2020 as head coach of the Diski Challenge side and first-team performance analyst. Most recently he was part of Carlos Queiroz’s technical team for Egypt, where he served as a performance analyst, and prior to that worked at the Belgian club, Lommel SK, which is part of the City Group.
The highly-respected young coach, who has written a number of books, actually had his first head coach role in Africa at just 25, when he took charge of Lusaka Dynamos in Zambia.
Born in England, Loftman began coaching after completing school, and worked in the youth departments at clubs like Watford, Tottenham Hotspur and Dagenham & Redbridge, while completing his Masters and doing his UEFA A Licence.
“In our engagement with Loftman, which led to this appointment, we were impressed by his vision for the team, his enthusiasm and determination to achieve the club’s objective and overall vision,” Chairman of VFA Itani Munzhelele said,
“The Venda Football Academy project is a very exciting opportunity to develop players and compete with some great teams in the GladAfrica Championship. It is a privilege to be given the opportunity. Thank you to the Chairman of VFA Mr Munzhelele and Mr Ramaite, for showing the faith and support to me to help the club reach its objectives,” Loftman added.
Loftman replaces Johnny Ferreira, who did not have his contract renewed after leading VFA to fifth in their maiden season in the GladAfrica.
He will be assisted by Luvhengo Mungomeni, while Azawindini Maphaha will be the goalkeeper coach.
Meanwhile, another iDiski Times columnist, Rowan Hendricks, who was Ferreira’s assistant, has become Head of Youth Development.
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