The Confederation of African Football (CAF) put the CAF A or sister confederation Pro coaching licence as mandatory requirement for coaches handling clubs in the continental football governing body’s interclub competitions.

For the 2023/24 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and 2023/24 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup, CAF A or sister confederation Pro coaching licence is mandatory for coaching licence is mandatory for the assistant coach.the head coach while CAF B

Holds Uefa A: De Jongh

A statement from CAF reads: “In view of the above requirements, we would like to reiterate that the above-mentioned coaching licence for the head coaches and the assistant coaches of the clubs participating in the CAF Interclub competitions are compulsory. The coaches, who do not fulfil this requirement, will not be allowed to be on the bench during the matches.”

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) compliance manager Casper Jangale also confirmed the development in an interview yesterday saying: “These are the new regulations. If you don’t have CAF A licence or its equivalent, which in this case is Pro licence from sister confederations, you can’t coach in CAF interclub competitions.

“I think what CAF wants is that Africa should also have highly qualified coaches. In Europe, an expatriate can’t coach a club if he doesn’t have the highest qualification.”

The development means only Pro licence holders from Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf), Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (Conmebol), Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) are eligible to coach teams participating in CAF club competition.

The requirement will affect expatriates Pieter de Jongh for Silver Strikers and Mark Harrison of Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, who both have Uefa A licences, should their teams qualify for the CAF competitions.

But Silver company secretary Peter Masiye in an interview yesterday downplayed the CAF regulation.

He said: “We never said that we will participate in CAF club competitions. We hired him to take us through the TNM Super League, remember?”

On his part, Wanderers board secretary Chancy Gondwe asked for more time before commenting.

Another expatriate, FCB Nyasa Bullets Zimbabwean coach Kallisto Pasuwa, holds a CAF A licence.

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