Jackpot and NFD spot are up for grabs

Former Kaizer Chiefs and Bloemfontein Celtic defender Mokete Tsotetsi (above) has ambitions of being one of the top coaches in the country, but says he will be taking it one step at a time in his quest to achieve his goal.

Tsotetsi, who hung up his boots in 2014, before turning into coaching, is currently in charge of Gauteng ABC Motsepe league side Maccabi FC and has steered the club to their second successive league title this year.

Having clinched the Gauteng stream, Tsotetsi and his team will now head to the ABC Motsepe national playoffs in Limpopo, where all the winners from the nine provinces in the country will battle for a spot in the National First Division, as well as R1 million cheque for the winners.

“You have to start somewhere and have ambition. It is like when I started playing football, I had to learn and work hard to turn professional. And now as a coach, it is still the same process of learning and working hard to get where you want to be,” said the former defender.

Maccabi failed to clinch a spot in the NFD last year and Tsotetsi explains that the club’s match-fixing court case prior to the playoffs (Maccabi were eventually cleared to play) was the reason the players could not perform and adds that his charges are fresh and ready to fight for the championship title this year.

“The team had psychological challenges because of the case they had before the play-offs, if you’re not fit mentally then your body dies. So that was a big factor that affected the club in the playoffs.”

The tournament will be held at Turfloop University Fields from 2018 June 4 until 9, with both the overall champions and the runners-up getting promotion to the NFD.