The coach of the first football team in Al-Ahly club revealed, Bitso Mosimane, the reason for his refusal to be among the nominees for the Best Coach award in the world at The Best Awards.
Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi was nominated 3 years ago, as were River Plate coach, Marcelo Gallardo, and Peru coach, Ricardo Gareca, but they did not receive any awards.
Mosimane commented in his interview with the American newspaper “The New York Times” about the reason for his departure and the departure of many coaches who achieve good results from the awards for the best in the world, and said: “It is not only Africa that is being ignored.”
“It’s as if it doesn’t mean the same when you win the tournaments that don’t generate the most money and that don’t get the most followers.”
And about his appointment as coach of Al-Ahly Club in October 2020: “The administration wanted a coach who knew the continent of Africa well, especially the African Champions League, and defeated the teams that they needed to defeat.”
He added, “There was a great reception upon my arrival in Cairo, and only then did I realize the magnitude of the task that awaits me in the city Al AhlyI don’t know if there is another club in the world that has to win everything like Al-Ahly, I thought that South African fans love football, but they don’t love it as much as the Egyptians love it.”
He continued, “Before training Al-Ahly, there were people who asked me if I wanted to train the largest team in Africa and the largest in the Middle East, and this is normal because the African continent is full of foreign coaches and the team was trained by Egyptians or coaches from Europe and South America.”
He continued: “But when the potential is equal and the two teams have the same strength of players, we beat them, so maybe I can get a task to coach a team in the MLS or higher, if I coach Barcelona or Manchester City it won’t be bad.”
And he continued: “But training in Europe is still a dream for black coaches, what about Africans, I spoke with former and distinguished players, but they feel that they are deprived of that advantage and there are no opportunities available easily unlike their white counterparts, this is the truth.”
On his ambitions with Al-Ahly after winning the African Champions League twice and the African Super Cup twice, he hinted at his desire to win a championship. clubs World Cup, adding: “There is no continental championship left in Africa that I have not won.”
On facing Bayern Munich in the previous tournament: “They defeated Barcelona 8-2, I was worried about facing them because there was Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, if they could do this to them, what would they do with us?”
He continued, “We managed to beat Palmeiras and took third place. Africa won a medal, because in the 2019 edition it did not do so, and this is an achievement.”
And about his possible destination after the expiration of his contract with Al-Ahly: “Maybe it will not be a suitable time to train South Africa, but perhaps there will be Senegal, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire or the Egyptian national team, these are the strong teams known on the continent.”
