Coaching in Europe is a fairytale that will never happen - Al Ahly's Mosimane

Al Ahly head coach Pitso Mosimane says he is only interested in coaching in the Gulf countries having given up hope of working in Europe.

The South African tactician has established himself as arguably the best coach in African football and he has been nominated for several international coaching accolades.

Mosimane recently won his second Fifa Club World Cup bronze medal after guiding Al Ahly to a third-place finish in the competition and there have been suggestions that he could also do well in Europe.

“So ke sharpo ka Europe, bafowethu (“I’m okay with Europe, my brothers”)," Mosimane told the South African Football Journalists Association.

"Let me stay in the continent, and probably the Gulf because at least our footprint is in the Gulf. We have to continue doing football, we don’t have to continue doing football in Europe.

“Those are fairy-tale stories, my brother. That would never happen.” 

Mosimane had a conversation with Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke, who made the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach aware of the challenges faced by black coaches in Europe.

“Dwight Yorke said to me, ‘Forget about Europe, you’re never going to go to Europe. If we [black players] have scored goals in the Champions League and have created so much history at big clubs like Manchester United, we have qualified for [coaching] badges from Europe, and we never get that… you will never get that’,” he disclosed.

“In Europe, you had Tony Yeboah, Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, John Barnes — big names. Where are they? None of them can coach?" Mosimane asked.

“That’s what Raheem Sterling was saying. He said, ‘We grew up watching these people as our heroes, playing in the Premier League, but I’m yet to see one of our legends coaching a club, [even] in the first division, at least". When Sterling said that, [for me] it confirmed Dwight Yorke’s story.”

After retiring from professional football in 2009, Yorke expressed interest in taking charge of his former club, Aston Villa after completing his first coaching badge in 2010.

However, the former Trinidad and Tobago international later stated that he was ignored by the Premier League club's management when speaking to the Mirror.