Who are the three men who have arrived at Mamelodi Sundowns with Miguel Cardoso? Portuguese coach sheds light on his backroom staff

Mamelodi Sundowns appointed Miguel Cardoso as their new head coach on Tuesday, replacing Manqoba Mngqithi.

Cardoso arrived at Chloorkop with three men, Fabio Fernandes, Pedro Azevedo and Joao Araujo as part of his backroom staff.

The Portuguese has provided information about the coaches he will be working with.

“Fabio Fernandes is my first assistant coach, he’s a friend that developed some time ago when we made a decision to start working together, he has the spirit to follow me on my decisions, even when I was not working and wait for the right opportunity,” Cardoso said as per iDiksi Times.

“I believe people here will like his spirit, his attitude, he tries a lot and puts a lot of energy into matches and everything he does, he connects with people, always smiling and very qualified in what he does. He has a large experience in Africa, two Afcons with Burkina Faso, and club experience in Africa, which was important when we arrived in Esperance. 

“Pedro is someone who also works with me in everything, in tasks in training sessions, he is a multi-tasked person with a lot of experience working in youth teams at FC Porto where many coaches come from," added the former Esperance coach.

“He was on the moment of maturity to enter the highest level, so I took him with Esperance for that purpose, I had nine years in Porto, and someone gave me an opportunity to move to  Fluminense, with a Portuguese coach and now I knew Pedro was on the level of maturity to have that step and he was important with us last year.

“Joao Araujo is someone for many years that was saying ‘Miguel, when, when when’ but the when was not happening at the same time, we could not join ourselves in the journey of football before but we shared a lot in the period where we were not working together," the ex-Celta Vigo tactician continued.

“He had experiences with several teams with a few coaches in Portugal and he was working the last few years at the highest level, before joining me in Esperance, he was working in Braga, one of the best-organised clubs in Portugal. 

“He was in the department of analysis, he’s a mind that reads the game, helps me to prepare the work in analysis and helps for strategic preparation for matches. ”

To work with colleagues who are already familiar with the culture of Sundowns, Cardoso will have Steve Komphela and Kennedy Mweene as part of his backroom staff.

He takes over a team that is already at the summit of the Premier Soccer League table but expectations are high on him to help the Brazilians win the Caf Champions League title.

The 2025 Fifa Club World Cup is another big tournament for Cardoso if he will still be in charge of Masandawana next year.

The 52-year-old was expected to conduct his first training session as Masandawana's head coach on Wednesday.

His immediate assignment is the hosting of Raja Casablanca in Saturday's Champions League match at Loftus Versfeld.