Kaizer Chiefs sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jr has revealed why the club decided to travel to Turkey for a pre-season camp, which is set to commence on Thursday.
Amakhosi players, alongside members of the technical team, including incoming head coach Nasreddine Nabi, are set to spend almost three weeks in Europe, where they are expected to train and play friendly matches against top Turkish opposition.
“The most crucial aspect of a pre-season camp is to make sure that the team is building team unity and overall mental readiness for the season ahead,” Motaung told Kaizer Chiefs media.
Building internal strength
“These are vital, as every top team needs to work together to build its internal strength to be prepared for the challenges ahead.
“More specifically for us, with a new incoming coaching structure, it helps for the new coaching team to have the squad away from their normal environment to assess what work must be done and how they need to work together going forward.
“We are looking forward to a very productive preparation process, and we hope the team will be able to focus on the job at hand as we gear towards starting the season very strongly.”
Amakhosi’s marketing and commercial director, Jessica Motaung, said the trip will also grant the club an opportunity to promote its brand outside the borders of South Africa.
Promoting the brand
“We are thankful that we can realise our dream of preparing the team overseas. This allows us to promote the Kaizer Chiefs brand outside of the borders of South Africa,” she said.
“We are looking forward to a successful tour and hope it will lead us to winning, as we did when we came back from Korea in 2003.”
Before returning to South Africa to begin the much-anticipated DStv Premiership season, the Chiefs will be based in the Turkish cities of Izmit and Istanbul during their tour.
Nabi will be in charge of the new-look technical team.
Meanwhile, Amakhosi announced this week that the club parted ways with the head of the academy, Cavin Johnson, who served as an interim coach last season.
Johnson guided the Glamour Boys to a disappointing number 10 finish on the log standings.
