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The humiliating sight of experienced PSL coaches having to sit in the stands because they were not allowed to sit on the bench in continental inter-club competitions, due to lack of required qualifications, will soon disappear.
Safa has rolled out CAF A coaching licence courses for the first time in five years. Safa said in a circular recently that the first phase of the course will start next month.
Local coaches have been invited to take up the opportunity. This will come as a welcome relief to some premiership coaches.
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The rules stipulate that head coaches in inter-club competitions must hold a CAF A licence – the highest qualification recognised by the continental governing body for clubs.
For assistant coaches, the minimum requirement to sit on the bench is a B licence. A Uefa Pro licence is required for coaches who are not from the continent.
Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler was not on the bench as the Citizens started their Champions League second preliminary round campaign at Athlone Stadium last month.
Tinkler has a Uefa A licence, but it is not recognised by new regulations.
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Similarly, Marumo Gallants coach Dan “Dance” Malesela was barking instructions from the grandstands in his side’s Confederation Cup clash against Egeco Plus of Madagascar last weekend.
Malesela also had to watch from afar when he was still part of the co-coaches set-up with Khabo Zondo at Royal AM when the team began their Confederation Cup campaign.
Safa head of coaching education Frans Mogashoa admitted the national football governing body was partly to blame.
Mogashoa said on Friday:
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“But, remember, a CAF A or B licence has got universal weight on the continent, it doesn’t matter where you obtained it from.”
Mogashoa said Safa had stopped rolling out the course after CAF imposed a moratorium in 2017.
The moratorium was lifted in 2019 to allow the Safa coaching department to get its house in order. However, the organisation still did not roll out the courses.
Mogashoa cited Covid delays and other aspects that Safa still had to satisfy CAF with for the lack of action.
The move left local coaches with no option but to go to neighbouring countries and abroad.
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He confirmed to City Press on Friday that he had sent through his application for the A licence course next month and had urged other local coaches to grab the opportunity.
In 2020, former Bafana defender Matthew Booth went to Namibia to do his badges.
Matters were made worse, or more interesting, last month when the new CAF regulations kicked in.
City Press has been reliably informed that the main reason CAF imposed a moratorium on Safa coaching courses was that the organisation did not have a permanent and qualified technical director.
Mogashoa, who himself acted as the technical director from 2020 when Neil Tovey vacated the post held from 2015, relinquished the job last month when Walter Steenbok was installed as the new technical director.
Before Tovey, the highly technical post was held by Serame Letsoaka and Fran Hilton-Smith in an acting capacity.
Mogashoa admitted that the lack of a permanent technical director didn’t sit well with CAF.
He said there were also other aspects which Safa still had to satisfy CAF with.
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“Some of the points, for an example, were: Do you have a technical director? At that time, we had just had Neil Tovey and I took over as acting technical director in 2020.
“So, it was a case of CAF not recognising an acting technical director.”
Mogashoa said CAF also demanded that Safa jack up its technical department, including overhauling its coaching syllabus.
“CAF wanted to know who the various heads of departments are, what their qualifications and CVs are.
“Who are your coaching instructors and where are their CVs? All these aspects had to be submitted to CAF.
“We had to wait for quite some time for this aspect to be sorted out,” said Mogashoa.
The closing date for application was yesterday.
. Meanwhile, in the Confederation Cup play-off round, Gallants will face Libya side Al Ahli Tripoli, Royal AM will take on DR Congo giants TP Mazembe, while Cape Town City will meet USAM of Algeria.
The first legs are set for November 2 with the return fixtures following a week later.
