New Kaizer Chiefs coach Molefi Ntseki has revealed that the club are targeting to compete in the league and play in the CAF Champions League in the 2024/25 season.
Ntseki was appointed as new Chiefs coach ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, with Arthur Zwane moving back into an assistant role at the club.
Amakhosi have been hard at work in a pre-season camp in Mpumalanga but have now traveled out of South Africa for two friendlies against Young Africans on Saturday and Township Rollers in Botswana in a week’s time.
Chiefs’ clash with Yanga is part of the home side’s Ya Mwananchi event, which is dedicated to unveiling the club’s new signings to their supporters at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
However, Ntseki insisted the Glamour Boys don’t see the game as an exhibition match but rather as a crucial preparation for the 2023/24 DStv Premiership and their target of qualifying for the CAF Champions League.
“I think it is a very good step that we are taking to play outside the country, so that we can also have a feel of how it’s like if we are to win the league and come to play in the Champions League next season [2024/25],” Ntseki said in his pre-match press conference which was attended by Farpost.
“For us it is not a exhibition game, for us it’s preparation. For us it’s not a friendly, for us it’s preparation.
“Because we are fully aware that we are to play 10+ games [in Africa] come next season and this is the first step in terms of our preparation.
“When the club played Simba [in 2020/21], I was not part of it, but I was part of the club playing in the final and I think it was a very good experience.
“The captain [Khune] was there, most of the players that we have that will be playing were part of the final. It was a good feeling and we are looking forward to have a very strong team, which will be able to compete in the league and if things go well in terms of our preparation we will see ourselves also competing in the [2024/25] Champions League.”
Ntseki also gave insights into his club’s pre-season so far, saying the focus was on physical and mental preparations ahead of the new campaign.
“I think we started our pre-season very heavy, we made it out to be a six-week preparation,” he added.
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“When we looked at it in our projections, it’s not only the physical side of it, because the physical side of it has to be aligned with the tactical preparation.
“But the most important thing is that you are joining a big club in South Africa, Kaizer Chiefs. It has got it has own history, it has own background.
“So on the mental side of it you also have to prepare the players in terms of donning the jersey and also playing in front of big crowds of people who love the team, so I think in the people we signed in bringing about understanding and cohesion, I think that process has been going very well.”
Image credit: Kaizer Chiefs
