AmaZulu eye SAFA TD Walter Steenbok for sporting director role

However, when contacted by SABC Sport for comment, the former head scout at Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns only stated the obvious – “I am contracted to [the South African Football Association] SAFA as the technical director for five years,” he said. 

That is a fact. 

Steenbok was only appointed by the mother body in 2022 and as recently as April he proposed a new blueprint to develop football in the country as well as a strategy to have more Premier Soccer League (PSL) coaches qualified. 

As previously reported by SABC Sport, AmaZulu have looked at several other possible candidates in Sudesh Singh, Maximilian Stumpf, Kabelo Bosilong and Shaun Bishop – however, the public broadcaster understands Steenbok is who they would prefer. 

The stumbling block would then be how Usuthu president Sandile Zungu gets him out of his current arrangement with SAFA. 

The club has been restructuring the club since the end of the 2022/23 campaign, which finished with the team escaping relegation in the final weeks of the season under interim coach Ayanda Dlamini.

Despite pulling this off, Dlamini was let go by the Durban-based outfit and Pablo Franco Martin has since been hired as the coach on a three-year contract with expectations to challenge for silverware.

Zungu has trusted former Bafana Bafana defender and captain Bongani Khumalo to assist with the process to interview a shortlist of coaches before they landed on Martin, a former Real Madrid assistant. 

Khumalo has also cross-examined the candidates for the sporting director role, but it’s understood Steenbok is being headhunted.  AmaZulu will announce their final decision before the 2023/24 season kicks off sometime in August.