Platinum Stars would like to dismiss out of hand media reports that coach Steve Komphela is about to be relieved of his duties at the club.

The management of Platinum Stars is fully behind the coach and his technical team and not once has the issue of Komphela’s discontinued employment been raised within the club.

When Platinum Stars appointed Komphela in June this year it was with a long-term view to the success of the team. The club is delighted with the choice that it has made and we remain convinced we have found the right man to take this team forward into what we see as a bright new future, said the Club’s Managing Director, Ian Riddick. Continue Reading

The former Bafana Bafana midfielder, who has 20 international caps to his name, put pen-to-paper on the new deal on Tuesday.

He will be available for selection for coach Steve Komphela at the 2009 Telkom Charity Cup to be played at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on Saturday, where Stars will meet Mamelodi Sundowns in the semifinals.

The former Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and SuperSport United player made seven appearances for Stars in the 2008/09 campaign, having joined in January this year, the last of which came on March 4 in a 0-0 draw with Free State Stars. Continue Reading

There is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to get good returns by investing in talented soccer players in South Africa, the rest of Africa, and globally, without being either an agent or a soccer player. There are no precedents of this type of investment in South Africa but there definitely are in South America. Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, the Argentine Internationals, sold their sporting rights to an Iranian third party who was neither an agent or soccer club.

This third party then hired out Carlos Tevez’s rights to the Corinthians Club of Sao Paolo for a sizeable fee. The move was highly successful as Tevez inspired the Sao Paolo club to victory in the Brazilian League Championship. After that the two players were both loaned out to West Ham United of the English Premiership, again for a lucrative fee.

The duo managed to save West Ham from relegation with Carlos Tevez scoring the goal that gave them the crucial victory on the last matchday. The company that owns the two players sporting rights then sold Mascherano outright to Liverpool FC for a GBP18 million and loaned Carlos Tevez to Manchester United for an undisclosed, but assumable lucrative fee. Continue Reading

Platinum Stars have announced the appointment of David Vilakazi as assistant coach to fellow Steve Komphela for the 2009/10 season with immediate effect.

Vilakazi, who was head coach of First Division Coastal Stream side Carara Kicks last season, as the Welkom side came within a whisker of promotion to the Absa Premiership, joins Stars on a two-year contract, with an option of a third year.

Also joining the technical team is Obed Legobate, who was previously National Supporters Coordinator for Suppersport United for four seasons, following that, he made the move to Platinum Stars Supporters Club where he also assisted in coordinating the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in preparations for the 2009 Confederations Cup. He has been appointed Team Manager for the new season.

Vilakazi, who like Komphela is from the Free State, is regarded as one of the best young coaches in the country. He spent 10 years as a player with Fairway Stars, who would later become QwaQwa Stars and then Free State Stars, captaining the team to success in the Coca-Cola Cup final in 1994 when they beat Hellenic 3-2.

After hanging up his boots in 1996, the 42-year-old took up the head coach position with Bloemfontein Young Tigers the following year, and spent nine seasons with the club before his departure in 2006.

He then worked as assistant coach at Maritzburg United (January to June 2007), before making a return as assistant at his old club Free State Stars (2007/08).
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Pitso Mosimane is the one of the few young local coaches who has joined the elite group of successful coaches in South Africa. The other one that comes to mind is Gavin Hunt of Supersport United. Like the rest of Africa, we seem to have a propensity to import coaches from overseas, with a few African coaches like Shepherd Murape also having been given a chance to establish themselves.

However, the big clubs seem to think that their coaching jobs are too high profile for local, let alone young local coaches. I commend Moroka Swallows for taking a risk on the relatively inexperienced Ian Gorowa and appointing him Head Coach at Swallows. This raised many eyebrows among the soccer fraternity, and the media didn’t help by criticising the appointment and predicting a gloomy outcome.

This put a lot of pressure Gorowa and the club, and, the minute results stopped coming, the club were forced to sack the novice coach. However, times have changed. One of the biggest clubs in the world, FC Barcelona, entrusted the coaching reigns to Pep Guardiola who had previously been the coach of the Barca B team. Continue Reading

Patrice Motsepe publicly declared, a couple of years ago, that Sundowns would play their part for the country by providing Bafana Bafana with outstanding players for the World Cup. However, what has happened is actually the exact opposite because they have become the place where footballers’ careers die.

The club’s policy of willy-nilly buying any player that is talked about has resulted in a bloated squad of players, bought without strategy. As a result, once promising players such as Thando Mgomeni and Manqoba “Shakes” Ngwenya have been wasted and their economic value has plummeted. Continue Reading

I predicted that Mamelodi Sundowns would make a spectacular move in the close season and it seems they have done just that with the signing of Hristo Stoichkov as Head Coach on a two year contract. He will take over from Ted Dumitru who had taken charge of the club on a caretaker basis.

This is the second very high profile coach Sundowns have roped in having parted ways with Henri Michel who was unable to complete a full season at the club. Stoichkov made his name as a player when he was part of Johan Cryuff’s ‘dream team’ at Barcelona that won four league championships in a row and a European Champions Cup in 1992.

He was also named European Player of The Year and was the top goal scorer at the USA ’94 FIFA World Cup which earned him the Golden Boot Award. Unfortunately it seems as if his signing was preceded by allegations of match fixing at his previous Romanian club after his charges drew a match under very controversial circumstances. Continue Reading

Platinum Stars have adopted the local is lekker policy by announcing that former Bafana Bafana captain and ex- SA national under 23 team coach Steve Komphela has been given the task of building a new-look Platinum Stars team that will herald the start of a new, exciting era in the history of the Royal Bafokeng Holdings-owned PSL club.

For Komphela, it will be a base of staying among the stars, in moving to Platinum Stars having helped elevate Free State Stars to a fourth place league finish during the 2008/2009 PSL season.

He joins Platinum Stars on a 2 year contract with an option to renew for a 3rd, and will take over the head coaching role from Miguel Gamondi, who parted ways with the club on amicable terms earlier this month. Continue Reading

The close season is already delivering spectacularly news worldwide. There’s the very welcome news that FIFA expects the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to gross US3.4 Billion, proof that you can make money in Africa. Then who could ignore the election of Florentino Perez as  with his spectacular football project that has kicked off with the equally spectacular signing of Kaka from AC Milan for a record-breaking 70 million Euros.

It’s been reported that Manchester United have just inked the biggest shirt sponsorship deal ever. This, in a recession and, another surprise, with another financial services firm. The deal is with Aon Corporation, one of the world’s leading Risk Advisors and Human Capital Consultancy – the deal is for GBP 20 million a season and begins when their AIG one ends in 2010. However, back here in South Africa with the minor news of Kaizer Chiefs just having let their Nigerian striker Ogbonna go for free. Continue Reading

Orlando Pirates is one an icon of South African, and I dare say, African soccer being a past winner of the CAF African Club Champions Cup. I would venture to estimate the club to be valued in the hundreds of millions and definitely supported by millions of people.

My question is who did Irvin “The Iron Duke” Khoza buy the club from in the first place. Up until the Iron Duke’s investigation for non-payment of tax everyone had assumed that Pirates was a community club that was essentially owned by the members. I was shocked when the media reported that the South African Revenue Services was investigating, among many business entities owned by the Iron Duke, a company called Orlando Pirates FC (Pty) Ltd – a company which he is the sole owner. Continue Reading