Patrice Motsepe says he refused to touch the trophy after his Mamelodi Sundowns beat Zamalek 3-1 on aggregate to win the African Champions League in Alexandria, Egypt, in October last year.
Sundowns became only the second South African club - after Orlando Pirates, who won the title in 1995 - to win continental club football's Holy Grail when they overcame the powerful Egyptian side over two legs.
Motsepe said that historic moment belonged to his players and the Sundowns technical staff and he was never going to steal their thunder after the team crisscrossed the continent for months in pursuit of the title.
''When we were in Zamalek (in October) I refused to touch the cup because it wasn't about me, it was about the players and the technical staff" Motsepe said.
''The players and the technical team kept calling me to join them to hoist the trophy but I said 'no man, the focus is not on me. You guys suffered and worked so hard."
Motsepe said it is moments like those that he will forever cherish as he approaches that rocking pensioner's chair on his front porch.
''Maybe it's a sign of me slowly becoming a pensioner that all of these things seem to emotionally excite me more than the others."
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