Pitso Mosimane is keeping his options open on his next move in football, but makes it clear he would not mind it being to a strong national team where he would stand a chance of winning the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
Having won almost everything he can in continental club football — including the second-most Caf Champions League titles with three, to Portuguese Manuel Jose’s four — former Al Ahly coach Mosimane says winning the Afcon should be his next ambition.
Speaking after being presented with his Caf Pro Licence qualification by the SA Football Association at Safa House in Nasrec on Thursday, Mosimane said he has purposely taken a sabbatical to rest after a stressful decade at the helm of Mamelodi Sundowns and Cairo giants Ahly.
“We always have offers,” he said. “The hold-up was for me to take a bit of a break — 21 years, I have always spoken about the sabbatical, which I never took.
“Now I got my chance. I feel good, I feel happy to be home.
“The feet will always itch, but there must also be the right project. You don’t just leave the team that you know you will go to the Champions League final with three times in a row and take it to the World Cup to mix with the Bayern Munichs and Chelseas, and suddenly go anywhere else. Then what’s in it for you?
“Yes, offers are there. But it must be the right project and I’m open. Even national teams. Because maybe the only thing I haven’t won on the continent is the Afcon, so why not?”
Mosimane left Mamelodi Sundowns, where he won 11 trophies in eight years, including the 2016 Champions League, as a giant of SA football. He returns to SA, having won two more Champions League and two Fifa Club World Cup bronze medals with Ahly, a giant of African football.
He was asked if that step up had been part of a calculated strategy when he left for Egypt.
“We all plot our movements,” the coach said. “You must also plan your success. You cannot just be reckless with your career. You need to plan your life.
“SuperSport United gave me the biggest foundation ever — without them I would not be talking here.
“I was there for six years and we went to six finals and lost four, came second, second and couldn’t win the league. Then the federation [Safa and Bafana Bafana] where I got the spark for international football.
“Then I had to go to a club that wanted to be in the international arena, and that was Sundowns. Then we [Sundowns] went to the Club World Cup and we got clobbered in Japan.
“Then I had the opportunity to go to a bigger club that gives you a chance to win the Champions League again. And I knew Ahly had been to the World Cup and got the bronze medal once.
“So thank God we are here with the three Champions League finals, the two bronze medals — I don’t know if I would have done that without going to Ahly.
“That’s why when you ask if there are offers, it’s about growth. We look for projects that are good — it’s not about how much you’re being paid.
“And there are good projects. Teams that have the opportunity to win the Afcon.
“And probably [it will be] there, because, OK, with our ego maybe the medal is the one I want to win.”
Mosimane left Ahly on June 13.