African Coach of the Year Pitso Mosimane savours his finest hour

Recently-crowned Confederation of African Football Coach of the Year Pitso Mosimane has described the accolade as a humbling honour and one of the highlights of his illustrious career.

Mosimane was named the coach of the year for 2016 on Thursday during an awards ceremony in Abuja‚ Nigeria for leading Mamelodi Sundowns to their maiden continental championship title‚ qualifying the team for the Fifa World Club World Cup.

Goalkeeper Dennis Onyango was named African Player of the Year‚ based in Africa‚ edging out second-placed teammate Khama Billiat‚ while Sundowns were named Club of the Year.

Reflecting on his achievement on Saturday‚ the former Bafana Bafana coach said being named the best coach on the continent was a humbling reward and a culmination of four years of hard work and planning behind the scenes at the club.

“I feel acknowledged and honoured because we have played football non-stop for 17 months which is not easy. These accolades are a highlight for me and everyone associated with the club and it is unbelievable‚” he said.

• TIMELINE: Sundowns coach Mosimane’s rise and rise to best coach in AfricaMamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane was crowned African Coach of the Year on Thursday during the Confederation of African Football (Caf) awards held in Nigeria. Here is a timeline of his coaching career so far. 

Mosimane said Sundowns’ success in winning the 2016 Caf Champions League did not arrive by fluke because it was a project he worked on for the past four years at the club.

“It took us four years to get us where we are at the moment. It took all those years of planning and I must also say that I have a good technical team around me who make lots of inputs in preparations‚” Downs’ coach said.

“We work very hard on the pitch and outside the pitch‚ which is something that people don’t know. We want to create a global product and it takes lots of hard work and planning to achieve that.

“I always tell the players about the evolution of cell phones and cars [as products]. We must always strive to improve because if you stay on the same level people will catch up with you.”

For the past few seasons‚ Sundowns held part of their off-season camps outside the country and for Mosimane it was part of the plan to conquer the continent.

• Coach of the year Mosimane's best one-liners that made us smilePitso Mosimane achieved his crowning moment as a coach on Thursday night when he was named the Confederation of African Football’s coach of the year for 2016. 

“We had camps on a number of African countries where the infrastructure is not the best so that we could learn and understand those conditions.

“The travelling and matches that we played there on bumpy pitches helped the players to understand the challenges of playing in Africa and gave them valuable experience‚” he said.

The coach also praised the support from club president Patrice Motsepe and the board who have backed the technical team throughout the four years he was in charge of the Brazilians.

As a result of Downs’ participation in the Champions League and Club World Cup‚ they will play catch-up when the league resumes from its current break in February and Mosimane is aware that his side will be a marked team in 2017.

• Algeria's Riyad Mahrez named African Footballer of the YearRiyad Mahrez, who inspired Leicester City to an extraordinary Premier League title triumph last season, was named African Footballer of the Year on Thursday. 

“Opponents are going to plan accordingly against us and it is going to be difficult but it is part of football‚” he said.

“You saw how difficult it was to play against Baroka FC when we returned from the World Cup but we will prepare well against all our opponents and work harder on our game.”

TMG Digital/TMG Sport