With a contract in his back pocket that was ”simply too good to refuse”, 42 year-old Roger de Sa rejoined Wits University on Tuesday after two years as coach of Cape Town PSL club Santos.
De Sa’s return to the club where he spent eight years as a goalkeeper and coach was announced by Bidvest boss Brian Joffe.
”It took the combination of the kind of offer that was placed in front of me by Brian Joffe and the lure of returning to the club where I had enjoyed many of my best days in soccer to leave Cape Town and Santos,” said De Sa.
One of the handful of South Africans who have represented their country in three different sports — soccer, basketball and indoor soccer — De Sa was also chosen as PSL coach of the year in his second last year at Wits and acted as Bafana’s goalkeeping coach during Carlos Queiroz’s reign.
With bad luck and misfortune dogging the team, Wits were relegated for a year to the Mvela League in De Sa’s last season with the club.
”At the time I thought it was the best move for the club and myself. But a new era is under way at Wits and I believe the club can look forward to an exciting and rewarding future.”
As his assistant, De Sa will have former Bafana teammate Eric Tinkler, who acted as the team’s interim coach after the hasty sacking of Boebie Solomons.
De Sa said he believed Wits already had the nucleus of a team ready to challenge strongly for PSL honours — ”but a couple of reinforcements in key positions will be considered”, he added.
”Fortunately, Wits are now in a financial position to build confidently and progressively — something that was not always possible when I was at the club the first time around.” – Sapa