2 October 2023 – Over 70 football stakeholders attended the SAFA Technical workshop in Polokwane, Limpopo over the weekend and among those that graced the symposium were SAFA Vice-President Linda Zwane, SAFA Chairperson of the Technical Committee Jack Maluleka and SAFA Technical Director Walter Steenbok.
The idea of the workshop according to Technical Committee chair Maluleke was to inform members in the Province about SAFA’s goals and that they understand SAFA’s overall technical strategy.
“Members must comprehend that they have a role to play in the vision of the Association and how they contribute to the betterment of our national teams,” said Malukela in his opening remarks.
SAFA Technical Director, Steenbok shared his plans for the Technical Department, and encouraged members in attendance to re-ignite their purpose of football by ensuring that the stipulated objectives are met.
SAFA Vice-President Zwane opened the session by detailing the successes of SAFA’s Vision 2022, and that with the buy-in and cooperation of the Local Football Associations, the SAFA Regions and provincial offices are paramount to the accomplishment of Vision 2030.
“Many people do not realize that we accomplished many of our goals for Vision 2022,’’ said Zwane, while speaking to www.www.safa.net
“We have managed to develop elite players that are now playing in the professional set up locally and abroad and are also representing our senior national teams.
‘’We are currently awaiting the 2024 CAF African Cup of Nations, in which Bafana Bafana will be representing us, while Banyana Banyana have managed a great feat by qualifying for the knockout stages of the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia/ New Zealand.
‘’Our junior national teams have done well, regardless of the pandemic that derailed the whole world a few years ago and took us a bit off course,’ explained Zwane.
The SAFA Vice-President said the Association was in good standing with both FIFA and CAF adding that South Africa stood a good chance of winning the bid to host the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
SAFA TD Steenbok said he was happy various stakeholders wanted to play their part in making sure South Africa is back on top globally.
“We are privileged as a country to have so many stakeholders that want to be part of the solution of getting our national teams back on top,’’ said Steenbok adding he was impressed by the people of Limpopo.
“Coming to Limpopo was incredible, while seeing the hunger of the administrators and coaches for education is very encouraging to our purpose as the Association. We had a full day workshop as we continue our provincial tours.
We need to see active participation from the province in building the South African dream. We have encouraged the people to take the initiative in many aspects of the game, while getting the young ones to play football again. We need youth football for us to prosper as a country and some of the main discussions over the weekend were the overview:
- SAFA Technical Strategy
- U15 inter LFA leagues for girls
- U13/ U15 boys and/girls football
- Accredited football academies
- The Women’s Football Strategy
- The FIFA Talent Development Scheme
“We also explained to the stakeholder in detail the SAFA Clive Barker Academy and the existing possibilities around it, for coaches, educators etc. to get more involved in building the national vision,” said Steenbok.
The Provincial workshops have so far covered two of the 9 Provinces and will be undertaking workshops in other provinces soon.