Dissatisfied Local coaches are currently engaged in discussions with the Botswana Football Association (BFA) regarding their intentions of forming an association in the country.
It has emerged that the disgruntled coaches have expressed their wish to pursue the elevation of the technical aspect of the game and guide BFA on that side of the game.
Close sources have revealed to Sunday Standard that the coaches’ concern is with regards to the decline of football standards in the country with BTC Premiership teams battling to compete in the CAF competitions.
It is said that the mandate of the association will be to monitor foreign coaches coming into the country either at national, development and club level. The association is also said to be working on addressing the quality of coaching programmes and intend to work closely with the local football mother body on suitable appointments of junior national teams.
‘’Paper work and discussions of having the association running in the near future is at an advanced stage. The BFA is aware of the coaches’ wish and willing to assist with necessary documentation for the process,” a source told Sunday Standard. It has surfaced that the association will be open to both amateur and professional coaches affiliated to the BFA.
It has also emerged that the intention of the association is to stimulate the interest of developing coaches with objectives to increase knowledge among coaches.
The other concern raised by the coaches is said to be late engagement of junior national team coaches which usually is dealt with at a crucial stage with little time to prepare for competitions. ‘’The COSAFA Under-17 is about to kick off in just a few weeks and the coach was recently appointed which gives him little time to search for quality players. He will be forced to pick a team under pressure due to demanding factors such as MRI scan for age verification of players,” said a source.
One one of the local coaches, Nelson Olebile, said the registration process was ongoing and expectation is to have the association fully running next month. He said their intention was to have an organisation that would address coaches’ welfare and matters with one voice.
“We have realised that at times we are sidelined as coaches and our wish is to address our issues with one voice. Our aim is to see to it that the technical department is recognised and respected,” said Olebile.
“As we speak now the last time we had CAF A license training locally was back in 2013 and there is nothing we can do for us to attain such education that we need. These are the reasons we want to have a common understanding and address such issues,” Olebile said.
