17 June 2019 — The SAFA coaching D Licence course kicked off on Monday at SAFA’s Technical Centre in Fun Valley, Johannesburg.

This Lotto sponsored all-women’s coaching course will run from 17 — 21 June.

SAFA Johannesburg president Phil Mogodi, who addressed the 24 aspiring professional female coaches from the SAFA Johannesburg region on the first day of the course, said that this was a great initiative from the Association in helping to empower women in football.

Mogodi added that this initiative will also play a key part in helping to unearth undiscovered coaching talent in the country.

“I truly believe that the Association is on the right track in unearthing undiscovered women coaches in the country,” Mogodi said. “Female coaches like Simphiwe Dludlu and Desiree Ellis, who qualified for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup respectively, have proven that women can excel as coaches in this sport as well.

“However, our job is not done yet,” Mogodi added. “Our role is to make sure that we have more qualified coaches working with our children from ground level throughout the country. This will play a key part in ensuring that we produce best players moving forward, who have had better football development from an early age. And that is what we want for our football.”