Licence fiasco benches PSL coaches
PSL side Royal AM have just put themselves in an untenable situation following their appointment of new coach Khabo Zondo.
The former Golden Arrows and ex Bafana Bafana assistant coach cannot sit on the bench when Royal AM play in the CAF Confederation Cup next season because he does not have the required qualifications needed for the continental competition. Safa, via its acting technical director Frans Mogashoa, has confirmed that Zondo does not have the CAF A licence or Uefa Pro licence needed to coach in the Confed Cup.
This means Zondo’s assistant, Abram “Wire” Nteo, may have to call the shots from the touchline when Thwihli Thwahla engage in their African safari.
CAF changed its rules governing coaches in continental club competitions, and has made it clear that from next season coaches must have a CAF A or Uefa Pro licence to sit on the bench in their club competitions.
Cape Town City are facing a similar situation with their head coach Eric Tinkler, and they will have to make do with assistant coach Diogo Peral when they participate in the CAF Champions League.
“Coach Khabo is a decorated coach and has coached at a Fifa World Cup as assistant to Jomo Sono in 2002 . We are in conversation with Royal AM and Cape Town City regarding the situation, and we have written three letters to CAF to allow the coaches to continue because in November we will be conducting coaching courses of the same level [CAF A licence].
“We are one of the countries that invested in coaches training and certificates with the Safa Level 1, 2 and 3. CAF came and needed to do a conversion from our Safa coaching levels to CAF licences. They must finish what they started because this mismanagement of the transition is affecting our clubs.
“What we are saying is we will not bring the standards down. For instance, Khabo has a Safa Level 3 Pro licence, which just needs to be converted to a CAF licence,” said Mogashoa.
City boss John Comitis was scathing when he spoke to this publication a few weeks ago regarding the same situation his club is facing with Tinkler.
“It’s also about the rules being reasonable. The coaching courses are not offered to us. You cannot apply for them and there is no place to register for them, but we are expected to have them.”
Zondo was not available to respond yesterday, and Royal AM had not replied to Sunday World’s questions at the time of going to print.