Roger de Sa has signed a contract with the Qatar national team as assistant to long-time friend Carlos Queiroz.
The former Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits, who is expected to resume his duties on March 1, put pen to paper on Thursday night.
De Sa, who previously played for Bafana Bafana and Moroka Swallows, confirmed to Sunday World that he has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract after protracted negotiations. However, he would not reveal more details about his contract.
De Sa is reuniting with Queiroz, who is succeeding Félix Sánchez after he led Qatar at the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
De Sa and Queiroz first partnered when Queiroz was coaching the Portuguese national team at the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. In 2022, they formed a formidable combination when they led Egypt to the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The Pharaohs, led by Liverpool icon Mo Salah, lost the finals in heartbreaking fashion via penalty shootouts. De Sa and Queiroz were then released from their contracts by the Egyptian federation.
The duo teamed up again when Iran recruited them for the 2022 World Cup campaign. Iran were knocked out of the tournament after a fierce fightback in the group stages.
In their opening match, they were walloped 6-2 by England before they registered a hard-fought 2-0 win against Wales in the second mach. A 1-0 loss to perennial enemies USA sent Iran crashing out of the tournament, but not with their tails between the legs.
Born in Mozambique, the two coaches will have their work cut out in attempting to get the Maroons, as Qatar is affectionately known, to the top tier of world football. In the Fifa World Cup that Qatar hosted recently, the Maroons did not register a single point after losing all three group-stage matches.
They lost the opening match 2-0 to Ecuador, were hammered 3-1 by Senegal before bowing out with another 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Netherlands.
De Sa will bring a wealth of experience to the Qatar changeroom. He was part of the triumphant Bafana squad that won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, and has won two Nedbank Cup trophies with Wits University and Orlando Pirates, respectively.
He also reached the finals of the CAF Champions League with Pirates in 2013. His last trophy in the Premier Soccer League was the MTN8 with Ajax Cape Town in 2015.
De Sa is also one of a few South Africans who have represented the country in three different sporting codes – soccer, basketball and indoor soccer.
Queiroz has also coached top teams including Real Madrid, South Africa’s national soccer team, and the Colombia national team. He also had two spells as Alex Ferguson’s assistant manager at Manchester United.
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