WATCH | Sundowns’ new sporting director explains his role at Chloorkop

Mamelodi Sundowns’ new Danish sporting director Flemming Berg says his role is to co-ordinate all the clubs’ sporting departments, and have them performing optimally.

Given he is a former head of development for the Danish FA and scout for Chelsea Berg seems sure to have an impact on Downs’ academy, youth structures and talent identification.

He said he had hoped to attend Downs’ first match with the first sizeable crowd in two years — their 3-0 Caf Champions League win against Al Merrikh at FNB Stadium on Saturday — to get a sense of the passion of the club’s fans, but a flight from Denmark was delayed.

“I’m looking forward to meeting the fans. And one thing that I can guarantee is that we will all do the best we can for the fans, for us to have victories, but played in an attractive, attacking positive way of football that will be enjoyable for everyone to watch in the stadium and on TV,” Berg said.

He explained of his position: “The sporting director is a position where you go in and have a lot of things around you — a first team, a ladies team, an academy, medical. You have a lot of different parts in the club and the sports director’s role is to have everyone performing as well as possible.

“Being in the middle, making sure that everyone can come out with the best they have for the benefit of the club.

“That is my ambition — to make sure everyone can perform in the best possible way, including the coaches and the players, and everyone around the club.”

Berg said Sundowns have “big responsibilities” as a top club in SA and on the continent:

He said he has “really liked” what he has seen so far of the structures at the club’s headquarters in Chloorkop:

Sundowns chairperson Tlhopie Motsepe clarified that Berg’s role is to ensure uniformity in mentality across the senior and youth teams, and other departments such as signings and scouting.

 “The importance of creating youth structures and identifying top talent is something we hold very dear and is an important piece of our DNA,” Motsepe said.

“As we continue to strive to become a dominant club on the African continent it is important that the academy structures and youth teams embrace the same mentality as our first team, and have an effective blueprint to ensure they can follow the right path and apply the right practices to succeed at the highest levels.”

He said Berg will be “tasked with the role of connecting operations across our club, from the academy to the senior team, from football methodology to scouting.”

“I seen in Flemming a man who’s not only excited about working for Mamelodi Sundowns FC, I see in Flemming a man who’s excited to work in SA — and that is exciting.”

Berg was head of elite football development at the Danish Football Union (DBU) from 2015 until last month.

He was part of the brains trust that saw Denmark’s men’s team move from 46th in the Fifa rankings to ninth last year. He was an international scout for Chelsea from 2005 to 2012.

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