Introducing the young performance analyst Yardaan Valodia, who played a pivotal role in guiding the two SA men’s junior national teams to qualify for their respective Fifa World Cups later in the year, takes us through his journey and how a life-threatening injury led him to his destiny.
Valodia (20) was part of the U17s African Cup of Nations back-room staff and U20s, with the latter going all the way to be crowned African champions in Egypt recently.
Born and bred in Johannesburg, Valodia started his football journey eight years ago as a player at Stars of Africa Academy, owned by former Kaizer Chiefs mentor Farouk Khan, even though he had cut his playing time short due to an injury that almost cost him his life.
“My relationship with Stars is still strong, I still visit the academy from time to time. The
academy played an important role in my development. I spent five years there from the age of 12 as a footballer, but I was forced to stop playing because I suffered a bad, shocking injury. I tore my kidney,” Valodia revealed to Sunday World.
“But because of my passion, I fought and worked hard on the sidelines for an entire year to bounce back. I tried playing but struggled a lot, and that is when I hung up my boots, and my analysis journey took off from there.”
His big break was at the now-defunct Moroka Swallows as a teenager, and then he moved to his childhood club, Mamelodi Sundowns, where he is now in the development structures.
“I regard coach Steve (Komphela) as a father. I can’t thank him enough because he gave me an opportunity for a lifetime. He took a gamble with me, as young as I was (18), to come to work with him at Swallows.
“He always gave me the courage and told me to be confident in everything that I do. I remember when we were at Swallows, we started with only two analysts … myself and Yu-Sha Said.
“But Yu-Sha went to Chiefs, and coach Steve left for Sundowns, and I was alone and stressed, but because of his words, I kept on working, and here we are today, as champions,” he said.
