Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena was surprisingly not nominated for the CAF Coach of the Year award despite an unbeaten record in CAF competitions.
On Wednesday, CAF had announced the nominees for the Coach of the Year award and there were a lot of questions on why Mokwena did not get any recognition given his incredible run since being appointed as the sole head coach.
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According to the continental football governing body, the period of consideration for the CAF awards was from November 2022 to September this year.
This means that the 36-year-old tactician could not have been omitted on the basis that he did not start the season at Sundowns as a sole head coach, after the Brazilians made coaching changes in October last year.
Mokwena was the head coach in all Sundowns' CAF Champions League matches, with the exception of the preliminary tie against Seychelles side La Passe, where the Tshwane giants trounced them 15-1 on aggregate in early October.
The young tactician presided over all group matches for the Brazilians and knockout matches, where they finished the whole of the CAF Champions League 2022/23 season unbeaten.
Sundowns were the only side that were undefeated during the whole of that campaign, as they were eliminated by Wydad Casablanca in the semi-finals on the away goals rule.
The Brazilians were close to reaching the final after leading Wydad 2-1 in the second-leg (after the first-leg ended goalless), with 11 minutes to go, however, an own goal by Mothobi Mvala four minutes later saw Masandawana being eliminated.
Indications are that Mokwena was not nominated because Sundowns did not win the title, as the club coaches who are nominated for Coach of the Year award, Marcel Koller of Al Ahly and USM Alger Abdelhak Benchikha, actually won the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup respectively.
The other coaches who were nominated are national team coaches, namely, Tom Saintfiet of Gambia, Baciro Cande of Guinea Bissau, Juan Micha Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, Amir Abdou of Mauritania, Walid Regragui of Morocco, Chiquinho Conde of Mozambique, Aliou Cisse of Senegal and Pape Thiaw, who won the African Nations Championship (CHAN) with the Lions of Teranga.
Do you think Mokwena should have been on the nominees' list for the CAF Coach of the Year award? Let us know in the comments section below.
