MASERU — The Lesotho Football Association (Lefa) will next month hold a two-week Caf C Licensing coaching clinic for 40 premier league and A Division coaches.
The course, which will run from October 3 to16, comes after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) demanded that all premier league coaches hold the C-Licence coaching qualification.
The new requirement will be effective beginning next season across Africa, Lefa technical director Seephephe ‘Mochini’ Matete told the Lesotho Times on Tuesday.
Matete said participants must at least hold a Level One certificate or be former national team players.
“This is the new rule set by Caf. Only coaches with the C License and above will be allowed to coach premier league teams throughout Africa,” he said.
“For the first time, participants were asked to pay a non-refundable application fee of M300 and we were very happy to see that coaches are serious about this type of training,” Matete said.
He said 86 coaches applied for the course but only 40 were successful.
The training is aimed at improving the standard of football in the country.
“Right now the main problem in our local football is that the level of coaching in the premier and A Division leagues is very poor.
“This new season the standards have deteriorated. This is because our coaches do not have the right approach for the matches,” Matete said.
“I don’t see any devotion and dedication being displayed by our teams during the matches. It’s like they are playing for leisure not for three points or to be champions at the end of the season.
“Hence this course will help train coaches who will then go back to their teams and help in improving the standard of football in the country.”
A similar training course will be held in February next year with at least 40 other coaches being expected to attend.
“In total, by end of February we would have trained 80 coaches and that will mean our 36 premier and A Division teams will have a pool of coaches to select from,” Matete said.
