‘I had a lot of offers from PSL and NFD teams but I think Tuks presented the best environment to fulfil their objectives,’ Kopo said.
New AmaTuks head coach Kwanele Kopo has opened up about his decision to join the Motsepe Foundation Championship side ahead of the 2025/26 season.
Kopo stepped down from his role at Betway Premiership outfit Chippa United at the end of last year and has now found a new home at the University of Pretoria.
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The Pretoria-based institution is aiming to secure promotion to the Betway Premiership for the first time since 2016. Kopo, who had reportedly attracted interest from several clubs, has signed a long-term contract with AmaTuks.
“I had a lot of offers from PSL and NFD teams but I think Tuks presented the best environment to fulfil their objectives,” Kopo said on Radio 2000.
“That is to oversee the entire youth programme and to direct the senior team. It’s more of a package of the entire project at Tuks that really attracted me.
“In our country, there aren’t a lot of coaches who want to be at the bottom to unearth big talent, but to sustain professional football you need strong youth structures.”
Although the mandate is to return the club to top-flight football within three years, Phakaaathi understands that a significant part of Kopo’s key performance indicators will be centred on the development and progression of youth talent from the academy to the senior team.
“I like institutions and I worked at Wits University Football Club when I first arrived in Gauteng and that was an institution,” Kopo added.
“At SuperSport United, it became an institution because I went there to open the academy. A Chippa the view was to help the youth programme and strengthen the club as a whole.
“Again, Tuks presents that and a football club is not only about the senior team but it has to be an entire programme that starts with the youth and leads to the senior team.”
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Machete Moloto will act as Kopo’s assistant coach while Nic Stothard will remain in his role as the second assistant by virtue of being the head coach of the varsity team.
