The SAFA Clive Barker Academy was officially launched by the South African Football Association (SAFA) as a tribute to the late Bafana Bafana Bafana coach.
Barker, who led Bafana Bafana to Arica Cup of Nations in 1996, passed away on Saturday, 10 June 2023 after a brave battle with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD). Linda Zwane, the Vice President of SAFA, inaugurated the event that took place in Nasrec.
“We are pushing two main agendas – being women’s football and youth football. It is critical that in line with these two agendas, our coaches are educated and skilled to be able to meet the international standards of these areas of football, and today’s launch speaks about that,’’ said Zwane.
SAFA Technical Director Walter Steenbok detailed the mission of the Clive Barker Academy and also announced that the Association would once again host CAF A License Diploma courses. The first CAF A License Course will be held in November 2023.
“We are excited to announce the Clive Barker Academy and have already outlined some of the courses that will be offered from 2024. We as the South African Football Association have a responsibility to educate and uplift our coaches, who will in return elevate our football as a nation,” said Steenbok.
“We will be offering a number of different courses under the Clive Barker Academy and we are open to working with stakeholders and institutions from South Africa and abroad to capitalize on the initiative in order to grow our football.
“The Technical side of football is very interesting and modern football allows for specialists in many different aspects of the technical department. In modern football, one can become a Technical Director, a performance analyst, a scout, youth coach/scout and many other areas. The SAFA Clive Barker Academy will focus of areas such as these to train our up and coming coaches,” concluded Steenbok