Pitso brings Morocco lessons to school programme as he partners with Curro

Having spent time in Morocco and seen how they achieved their football success, former Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane wants to employ the lessons he learnt there in his Pitso Mosimane Soccer Schools (PMSS) programme.

In a bid to revive early development of football players in South Africa, Mosimane launched his PMSS programme this year. The globally renowned coach announced an exciting partnership with Curro Independent Schools on Thursday as the wheels are set in motion for the programme.

Morocco has invested heavily in football development, overhauling structures in the past decade, including a Morocco-inaugurated $60m (R1.08bn) renovation of the King Mohammed VI Football Complex in Rabat in 2019.

Success has followed with the country's clubs cleaning up on all fronts in recent continental club competitions. Wydad Athletic Club and RS Berkane are the reigning Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup champions while AS Far won the Women’s Champions League.

Morocco's national team qualified for the 2022 World Cup and have competed strongly in Qatar. The women’s national side were runners-up as hosts to Banyana Banyana at the  Women’s Africa Cup of Nations this year.

Mosimane, now in charge of Al-Ahli Saudi FC in Saudi Arabia, believes the success of the Moroccans is the result of their investment in development.

“I don’t know how long it is going to take us South Africa] to get to [where Morocco is] in terms of infrastructure and facilities to develop the coaches and programmes to develop players,” Mosimane said.

“In South Africa we don’t have that at this point and it costs a lot of money.

“We can’t expect the federation to pop up that kind of money. I think we know the federation [the South African Football Association] doesn’t have the strength at this point to do those kinds of facilities.

“But it’s a question of government and private companies to also come around. It’s going to take long.

“But you also ask yourself, how do Senegal, which is not in a better position [financially] than South Africa, do it? How do Ghana do it?”

Mosimane, a three-time Caf Champions League winner, studied for and obtained his Caf Pro Licence in Morocco. 

Though Mosimane has chosen independent school Curro to kick off his PMSS programme, he said that doesn’t mean government schools have been left out of the project.

“We are going to partner with other schools. I think there are some government schools we cannot ignore,” he said.

“I’ve done a lot of research, and I’ve gone around some schools with [Gauteng premier] Panyaza Lesufi.

“We are not neglecting government schools, but for now we are starting with our partners at Curro to do our pilot phases.

“But we also got to understand that government schools have the problem of facilities.”

Former Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns coach left Egyptian giants Al Ahly in June and joined Ahli Saudi in November.

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