The Ga-Mokgwathi Village Born Tactician To Lead Amajita Ahead Of AFCON Qualifiers

Raymond Mdaka, born and bred at Ga-Mokgwathi village outside Tzaneen, Limpopo. He holds a CAF A Licence to help sweaten his journey in South African Football. The SA Under 20 coach previously worked at various clubs like Xihoko Mountains, the now defunct Dynamos, City Pillars, Young Stars and Marumo Gallants.

The South African U-20 Men’s National Team (Amajita) as they began their programme for the year in March 2024 with a weeklong training camp under the stewardship of newly appointed head coach Raymond Mdaka.

The camp is held from 21- 28 March 2024 at the SAFA Technical Centre in the south of Johannesburg. The gathering is the first of many ahead of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers in September 2024.

Mdaka is working alongside Donald Mojaki, who is currently coaching Sol Plaatje University, Karabo Mogudi from the University of Johannesburg’s Varsity Cup and ABC Motsepe league coach and former Bafana Bafana international Reneilwe Letsholonyane. These coaches form part of the technical team under the guidance of SAFA Technical Director Walter Steenbok.

Mdaka spoke to www.safa.net ahead of the camp. “We are looking forward to building a great team. We have selected players that are currently doing very well in their respective leagues. We believe that we have a comprehensive plan for the next two years,” said Mdaka.

“Following the SAFA Methodology workshop, which was hosted in January 2024, we have a very good understanding of the mandate set for us as the U20 national team.

“We are confident that we will be able to deliver on it. We are very excited about the first camp where we have called up 40 players.”