SAFA Vice-President Linda Zwane has assured that Technical Director Walter Steenbok is going nowhere and will remain with the organisation despite interest from Premier Soccer League clubs and other countries.
Zwane was responding to questions from iDiski Times, as Steenbok has reportedly been targeted by some clubs in the PSL, particularly AmaZulu and also other Football Associations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Steenbok, who joined SAFA in October 2022, has brought a lot of changes and made some progress on the technical vision of SAFA in the 11 months that he has been in charge.
He joined SAFA, after they had gone two years without a full-time TD since the departure of former Bafana Bafana captain Neil Tovey.
One of his highlights has been overseeing the implementation of the FIFA Technical Development Scheme (TDS) programme, whose focus has been to develop talent from the U15 level and also introduce a new U15 national team.
iDiski Times understands that part of this is to also have an U15 international tournament against top footballing countries from North Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa later this year.
Another highlight for Steenbok is the return of the CAF A Coaching Licence courses, which have been absent from local football since 2017. SAFA were finally approved to enter the CAF Coaching Education Convention last month and will be conducting the first CAF A Licence coaching course in November.
He also recently oversaw the introduction of the Clive Barker Academy, which would see different coaching courses being offered locally to benefit different stakeholders in the game.
But his continued stay at SAFA is not guaranteed with AmaZulu reportedly looking to appoint a new TD by the end of this month. But Zwane appears to be comfortable that Steenbok will remain their man.
“I think we’ve got the right guy and we are confident in him. One of the things he has indicated earlier is that we have plans to appoint coaches who will also share the load with him going forward,” said Zwane about Steenbok.
“Once the technical department is properly equipped and technically capacitated, we are not worried. He’s the lead driver of this project, he’s employed by SAFA and we are confident in having him for a long time.”
iDiski Times has also picked up that Steenbok is the subject of interest from certain countries in East Africa, but with most of his projects at SAFA still in the early stages, it remains to be seen if he would jump ship.
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“Offers will always be there, I think even where I’m working, I’ve got an offer somewhere. But it depends on how the organisation I’m working for treats me, and how are they supporting me.
“And in this instance, we are 100 percent behind him, and we support every initiative he takes and he can attest to that, and he’s here to stay.”
This article first appeared in this week’s edition of the iDiski Times newspaper, which is available to read for free on our website.
Source Link Steenbok Has Interest From PSL Clubs & FAs
