Nees lands another job in African football

FORMER Amavubi Stars coach Michael Nees has landed another post in African football despite his unproductive one-year stint with the Rwanda national team, two years ago. The German has been employed as an Education Officer by the South African Football Association (SAFA). In October, Nees was offered the post of Football Technical Director under the German Football Federation (DFB) co-operation agreement with SAFA but the 2010 World Cup hosts had to backtrack. According to Dispatch Online, SAFA Chief Executive Officer Raymond Hack said the offer had to be rescinded after a “decision was made by the SAFA technical committee to offer the job to a South African coach”. “We settled on Nees after the first two coaches offered to us by the DFB did not work out,” he said, adding that Nees is currently working under coaching and education head Conte Khubeka. SAFA will start the process of advertising for the post of Football Technical Director next week. The technical director’s duties are widely varied, as the task of the new person would be to assist coaches to ensure all national teams qualify for all international competitions such as the Olympics in 2010, and the All-Africa Games a year laterAnother responsibility would be to try to ensure Bafana Bafana win the 2012 African Cup of Nations. The post is part of the 2010 Technical Legacy Programme, which was set up in reaction to the poor performances by South Africa’s national teams at African and World Cup competitions. The German, who proved a major flop during his time in charge of the Amavubi Stars was shown the exit after the Rwanda national team failed to qualify for the 2008 African Nations Cup held in Ghana. The Amavubi Stars finished third in their qualifying group, nine points behind Cameroon. The federation decided not to renew Nees’ contract on the grounds that he had failed to perform in the year that he had been in charge of the national team. Nees signed a one-year contract in September, 2006 and guided Rwanda to third place at the 2006 Cecafa Challenge Cup in Ethiopia. Ends

Lifestyle

Nees lands another job in African football