Pitso Mosimane was hailed by the South African Football Association on Thursday, as he became the first coach from these shores to receive his Confederation of African Football Pro License.
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Mosimane studied for three years to earn his license, including interruptions for Covid-19, but now has a qualification equal to a Uefa A License, that allows the former Mamelodi Sundowns, Bafana Bafana and Al Ahly mentor to coach anywhere in the world.
“This is quite a historic and important milestone in … South African football,” said Safa president Danny Jordaan.
Mosimane is currently without a team, having left Ahly, with whom he won consecutive Caf Champions League titles, earlier this year.
He is currently using his experience to create the Pitso Mosimane Soccer Schools, which also has the blessing of Safa, to improve coaching in football within the education system in South Africa.
“I had to get the blessing of Safa to understand how Safa works with schools. I am only a technician, a man on the pitch,” said Mosimane.
“I go on the pitch to train coaches to train children in the proper way. It is important that they get the fundamentals of how things are … for me the best place to go is to the schools.”
“We all know the challenges of South African football, we might have talented players, but when you don’t have dedication it is always a problem,” added Mosimane.
“We don’t have the infrastructure that we have overseas and our government schools don’t have the same infrastructure as private schools.
“The school I went to … in Soweto, we don’t have a pitch. As much as we can talk about school sports and it sounds so nice, how are you going to do this? Who is going to give me a pitch? Those are the challenges we have.”
