Football-Choosing a coach for Seychelles, an easy or tough task? |04 January 2008

“We have to look at the resources available. It is the Seychelles government who pays the coach not the SFF and also we have to see how much the coach will get on a monthly basis. A good coach earns a lot of money and Seychelles cannot afford one. It is going to be hard to find a coach who is going to accept receiving US $1,500 monthly,” he added.

Sports Nation learned that Nigeria’s seasoned and accomplished German coach Bert Vogts earns US $65,000 a month and his salary comes from sponsor Globacom. As for Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, he is getting US $225,000 per month with the Bafana Bafana of South Africa

Asked when the SFF is to take a decision to appoint a new coach, local football boss Patel replied:
“We have received a number of curriculum vitaes (CV) from foreign coaches and we have to work on them. Last time I read in your paper (Seychelles Nation) about some Seychellois coaches giving their opinion about who should be the next coach of the national team. We are inviting them to send in their CVs to the SFF so that we can consider their application.”

Mr Patel noted that Congolese coach Raoul Shungu, who has officially handed in his resignation, will still be involved with the team as his resignation takes effect at the end of the month of March.

He added that Ulric ‘Keker’ Mathiot is supposed to join the SFF, leaving his post as director sports programme within the National Sports Council.

It is worth noting that Mathiot is the last Seychellois to coach the Seychelles senior national team and that was in 1991.
Since then, five foreign coaches have worked here and for different reasons they have not been able to bring success to the team.

The five foreign coaches are German Helmut Kosmehl (from 1992 to 1993), Yugoslav Vojo Gardasevic (from 1997 to 2000), Frenchman Dominique Bathenay (from May 2002 to November 2002), German Michael Nees (from 2002 to 2004) and Congolese Raoul Shungu (from 2004 to December 2007).

Judging from experience, it could be safe to say that there is nothing wrong with foreign coaches being employed here as many of our local coaches have limited expertise to manage the national team because of the lack of training, experience and opportunities.

But we have to make sure the foreign coaches are qualified and know the game very well. We can no longer accept coaches who want to come here to get some experience and pass their grades.

While here, foreign coaches should be able to mentor local coaches, organise frequent training and coaching events which will enhance the knowledge of the local coaches.
Seychelles football can no longer stay in the dark…

G. G.