Firstly hello and good day to all of the legions of Kaizer Chiefs fans around South Africa and those based elsewhere in Africa and around the globe, many of you might know of me from my time as Coach of Orlando Pirates and more recently Maritzburg United in the South African Premier Soccer League.

For those of you who might not have any idea as to who I am, let me take this opportunity to introduce myself, my name is Kostadin Papic I was born in June 1960 in Nova Sad in Serbia.

My travels as a professional soccer coach have brought me to South Africa and prior to that I had coaching stints in Nigeria with the likes of Lobi Stars, Enugu Rangers, Enyimba and Kwara United. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I would like to start off by saying thank you to all the fans who have sent me messages wishing me luck in my new job. I am sure that with the help of the fans we will together be able to take the team back to the top of the league in time to come.

I must add that since I was appointed as the coach on Monday every one at the Kaizer Chiefs Village have really been just wonderful to work with, from the management personal who I held contract negotiations with, through to the kit managers and other staff have all been really helpful to me. This has made my job of acclimatizing to my new surroundings easier, and has made my first couple days at the job very enjoyable, I must also compliment the players for the way that they have received me. I was really impressed with their positive attitude and general hard working ethic bodes well for the team, the team have players and technical staff have really been superb to me and thus far we have established a good understanding.

To get to the important matters on the field I would like to start this aspect of things by adding the following, during my first meeting with the team on Tuesday I told them whatever has happened until this point of the season is in the past. How ever they were told to do things is in the past as well, we know have a new beginning I too would not like to make comments or pass judgement on the previous coach.

What I will do is spell out the kind of football we will be playing from here on in; to straightforward I will add that we are going to play attacking football. The aim of the game is to score goals and we will achieve that by playing exciting, entertaining and attacking football, at every team that I have coached the players have been told straight that my team attacks from the word go. Spectators are coming to the game to enjoy a spectacle of good football and we can not give them that if we play a defensive game, our strategy from here on is to put on a good show and score a lot of goals.

There are a number of players in this team and those that I have previously coached on the African continent, who have risen to professional football by playing a certain way and perhaps expressing themselves in a way that some coaches might not like. My feeling is that if the strength of a certain player’s game is about doing some tricks, then I do not have a problem with that.

What I do not want though is the field of play to look like a circus with a guy doing all kinds of tricks and losing the ball, what I do not mind is for players to express themselves as long as the outcome of that is for the benefit of the team. My feeling is that players should be able to play to their strengths, I am not here to change any of that just to ensure that they are able to do just that and help bring out the best in them.

The team plays their first game with me as coach against Bloemfontein Celtic on Saturday in Durban, there has been a lot said about the game and whether the team is ready to face an opponent like Celtic. The thing is that playing a team like Bloemfontein Celtic is a challenging assignment, regardless of the fact that your team has a new coach they are tough team and have had a good run this season.

I am actually glad to be playing against a team of Celtic’s calibre so early on, as it gives me the opportunity to assess the team more thoroughly. It will allow me to see if my initial plans and thoughts have been working out, and if not then we can rethink our strategy ahead of our next game which is in early April.

For my first column I think that we have touched on a number of key issues and I will be back at the computer on Sunday evening with my synopsis of Saturday’s game, that is Kosta Papic signing off for now.

Kosta Papic


Kaizer Chiefs First Team Coach