Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi says clubs and coaches shouldn’t be blamed for the CAF Licenses dilemma but rather questions should be raised to the South African Football Association (SAFA).
On Sunday afternoon after beating La Passe 7-0, their head coach James Barra confirmed to the media that he’s a physical education teacher at a high school but holds a CAF A License required to sit on the bench for the game.
With the leader of an amateur team having access to the course, it brought up some questions about South Africa’s representatives in the continental competitions, with only Mngqithi and Mokwena – of the head coaches, currently able to sit on the bench at present.
The likes of Khabo Zondo (Royal AM), Dan Malesela (Marumo Gallants) in the Confederation Cup and Eric Tinkler, who holds a UEFA A License, are unable to meet the standards set by the Confederation of African Football in 2020 which stated a head coach needs a minimum of CAF A License of a continental Pro License, while a CAF B license for an assistant coach would be accepted.
This was a move in order to professionalise and improve coaching on the continent at a quicker rate but with the bizarre situation South African clubs find themselves in, the Masandawana coach says it’s not about lack of professionalism, desire or clubs not taking it seriously but rather the accessibility factor.
“Why don’t you take it to the federation? Why do you take it so narrow because coaches would want to have A licenses, but there are no A licenses in the country and there have not been probably after our era, the second group, the era of coach Rulani,” he said when asked by iDiski Times of the issues of the coaching licenses.
“And when was that? And that federation is comfortable with it, and you’re seeing our teams within our country, we are competing in the continental space not having coaches on the bench, not because the coaches don’t want to study but because the courses are not there.
“So I would not want us to narrow it down to the seriousness of the clubs because the clubs don’t have control over this one, this requires the federation to roll out as many courses as possible, to make sure our people have the right qualifications.”
The last rollout of CAF A Licenses courses took place in 2017 and it’s set to return in November with several coaches now having applied for it, it also needs to be noted that CAF had initially ended the courses after a revamp to raise the standards and implement the first Pro License course which Pitso Mosimane graduated from earlier this year.
