One of Gamondi’s strong conditions to remain at Yanga fulfilled

Yanga is in South Africa to play a series of friendly matches, and they will wrap up with a Toyota Cup preparation match against Kaizer Chiefs in Bloemfontein on Sunday. But the biggest focus has been keeping their big guns as the Tanzanian champions aim to challenge for the CAF Champions League title. Keeping star players like Stephane Aziz Ki was one of the important conditions for Gamondi to remain at the club.

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''One of the reasons for my renewal with Yanga is because the President wanted to keep all these players including Aziz Ki. Aziz Ki they wanted to renew his contract even before the season, I spoke with him. I am very happy with these bunch of players, we can continue to grow, for me as a coach to get these kind of players it is really fantastic,'' said Gamondi.

All eyes in South Africa will be on the Chiefs’ new head coach, Nasreddine Nabi, as he starts his new journey with the club tomorrow in front of the local crowd. They have just returned from a training camp in Turkey. Gamondi replaced Nabi at Yanga and continued where he left off by defending the league title and also reaching the CAF Champions League quarterfinals. The Argentine is grateful for the role Nabi played and handed over a competitive team to him.

''At the beginning, I was feeling great for the work he did with Yanga, they won the league. And luckily we did even better and qualified for the Champions League. I don't know him personally but I have great respect for him and wish him all the best,'' added Gamondi.

Tanzanian champions Young Africans (Yanga) will play Kaizer Chiefs in the inaugural Toyota Cup at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Sunday. In two weeks' time, Yanga will start defending their league title back home when their football program for 2024/2025 gets underway. The former Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach is fully aware that the word-friendly game between top teams doesn’t exist.

''I know the task is not easy, to play against Kaizer Chiefs especially in this event. There's a lot of pressure,'' he concluded.

Former Baroka FC midfielder Khalid Aucho returns with Yanga to face Chiefs on Sunday, for his team, this has been an important week after playing in the Mpumalanga International Premier’s Cup in Mbombela against Bundesliga side Augsburg FC and TS Galaxy.