By his own admission, Romain Folz had one of the top jobs available for him before he chose to join Mamelodi Sundowns as assistant coach this season.
Folz was roped in to assist Sundowns head Manqoba Mngqithi along with Steve Komphela when changes needed to be made at the defending champions following the departure of Rulani Mokwena at the end of last season.
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Folz had served as Performance Manager at FIFA since last year, having previously coached Horoya SC of Guinea briefly since leaving Mzansi.
Speaking with Mamelodi Sundowns Magazine, Folz said the Sundowns role was more appealing to him when it became available that he opted to leave his higher position at FIFA to be part of the Brazilians as part of the club's plans to conquer Africa and the world.
While some might think that the French-Moroccan's talents are being wasted in an assistant coaching role, having been linked with Raja Athletic Club and other top teams on the continent in recent times, sources have indicated that the 34-year-old tactician is happy with his current role that he has no regrets about his decision.
"Romain Folz is more than happy with his role at Sundowns as one of the backroom staff for coach Manqoba Mngqithi and no one should ever doubt that. He took the role on purpose because he wanted to be part of the team challenging for the CAF Champions League and to compete in the Club World Cup. It's true that he has had clubs lining up for his services, because you must remember that this is a highly qualified coach, who was recently attending a CAF A License to add to his badges. If I am not mistaken, he will be the only coach with a CAF A License and a UEFA Pro in the League. But I don't think being involved in an interesting project like that of Sundowns could be seen as talent being wasted. He is at the club to serve and to contribute to their success," said the source.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Soccer Laduma, Folz's former boss at Botswana outfit Township Rollers Bennet Mamelodi spoke about what can be expected from the tactician with regards to his contribution at the Brazilians.
"I think he is going to do well, and I think he will add value. His contribution will be immense to the senior coaches. And that's very important, when you look at how things are done in coaching internationally now. Even in South Africa right now, coaches come with backroom staff and stuff like that, and that's because each one of them has a role to play," said Mamelodi, speaking exclusively to the Siya crew.
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"I believe that he will contribute at Chloorkop, even if I'm not sure what's happening there, because I am not there. I believe that he will do well while also learning along the way. And he will be very supportive to Manqoba, and most importantly I know where he is that he is not interested in that job. He is only interested in doing his role as assistant coach and doing it well, without any ambitions of anything higher. People like that are very important for a head coach to have because it means you don't have to keep on looking behind your back," the Botswana Football League Chief Executive added.
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