Rulani – I Don’t Like These Individual Awards

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has insisted the DStv Premiership Coach of the Year award belongs to many more people at Masandawana and not just him.

Mokwena beat Jose Riveiro and Gavin Hunt to the award after winning the league in record-breaking fashion with seven games to spare.

He started the 2022/23 campaign as co-coach alongside Manqoba Mngqithi but was named sole head coach in October and has since not lost any of his 20 league games in charge.

His excellent campaign that saw Sundowns lift their sixth successive title, was rewarded with the Coach of the Season accolade, with Mokwena highlighting that he only accepts this accolade on behalf of many others who have worked heard behind the scenes at the club.

“Congratulations to the football club, I think it’s one that you receive as a custodian or the person that represents the team from a leadership perspective. But for sure, it’s not possible without the commitment and the hard work of everyone involved. So it’s a team award,” he told the club’s media team.

“I don’t like these individual awards, I always say it, because, when you’re in a space like football, and I’ve grown up in football, so I understand a little bit of what football means to many people and I’ve seen the influence it has in society, and in my township, for an example of Orlando. So I know what it means and what it’s about, so for sure, you don’t put yourself first in these moments, you try to enjoy the moments together.

“So huge congratulations to the technical staff, all the coaches, coach Steve, coach Manqoba, coach Wendell, coach Michael, to the technical team, they extended technical team and the analysts, the conditioning coaches, the medical team, the ground staff, the kitchen ladies, the security personnel, and then in to the entire club yourself [Shupi], and in the marketing, the chairman, Fleming, Bra Stan, Jogesh, these are people that work also tirelessly behind the scenes to invest in the club.

“So it’s a collective [award] for sure. And of course, without the players, we as coaches are not so important. We were only there because our jobs are to improve the players to give comfort to the players, to give them structure and information that allows them to perform at their best.

“And then the players perform and they score the goals, they keep the clean sheets, they are the ones that press and make the passes. So the game of football belongs to the players and huge congratulations to the players and to thank them for the incredible commitment, dedication and the hard work that they put in and, and without them, there is no Coach of the Year award.”