LEFA cracks whip on foreign coaches

MASERU – The Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) is cracking the whip on foreign coaches holding fake licences in local football. The association has given clubs that employ foreign coaches until tomorrow to submit their qualifications.

LEFA secretary general Mokhosi Mohapi said LEFA came across a fake coaching licence during the association’s club licensing process.

He said LEFA wrote to CAF to verify the qualification in question and were told there was something wrong with it.

Last weekend, Bantu played the entirety of their Vodacom Premier League game against Lioli without a technical team.

The reason was because even though Bantu head coach Abram Mongoya holds a CAF A Licence, he is not registered on FIFA Connect which is a centralised database by football’s world governing body that enables member associations to register and track players, coaches and referees, wherever they are in the world.

FIFA Connect assigns a unique FIFA ID code to each individual who holds a position in a football organisation and serves as a digital football passport number that contains information and the history of each stakeholder.

Because of Mongoya’s absence from the database, match officials on the day of the game against Lioli did not allow him to sit on the bench.

Mongoya has been coaching in the league all season and allowing a coach to be in the technical area is at the discretion of match officials on the day.

Mohapi said LEFA will send the licences of foreign coaches to CAF for verification and will also be in contact with the football associations where the individuals come from.

He said it is disrespectful to football and LEFA that foreign coaches can come to Lesotho with fake licences.

Mohapi said clubs that are found to have hired a fraudulent coach must be prepared for the consequences and to live with them.

“We placed way too much trust on the information we are getting (from clubs) which was wrong, we need to vet that kind of information, anything can happen,” Mohapi said.

“These guys, they come to Lesotho… I am not going to prejudice (against) anybody at this point in time and say they are not qualified. We will take their qualification to CAF and say (to CAF): this is what the guy is saying, aren’t we being sold a wild goose?”

Mohapi continued to say: “First of all, there was a team that registered (on LEFA club licensing system) and I asked our people, I said, ‘guys make sure you assist this team’. I was trying to help the team. The guys said there is a problem with this license. We contacted CAF and they said be careful, there is something wrong with it.”

It is easier for LEFA to vet qualifications of local coaches as they trained here at home and the association has a database of coaches and the qualifications each one holds.

LEFA has lost a few CAF A-Licence holders due to death or sickness, and Mohapi said the association will no longer be admitting foreign coaches who come to do their licences in Lesotho.

“We are no longer going to train expatriate coaches; they should come qualified because ours is very cheap, we subsidise 97 percent of the (CAF A-License) course. In other countries it could cost M80 000 or M100 000 to do it,” Mohapi said.

Asked what’s next for anyone found with a fake licence, Mohapi said, on top of the punishment they would get from LEFA, the association can ask for a global ban for such an individual which means they would not be able to work even in their own countries.

Mohapi had a message for clubs as well.

“Clubs, you are the ones who gave us this person, what’s next? We wrote to the teams (but) not even one of the clubs who have expatriate coaches has submitted their qualifications,” Mohapi said.

“If they are still not submitted by Friday, they shouldn’t even bother.”

Tlalane Phahla