As Kaizer Chiefs have been in the headlines recently as Nasreddine Nabi prepares to take up the head coaching position, the team are set to leave South Africa for pre-season training in Turkey on Thursday.
Players and members of the technical team will spend almost three weeks in the country, where they are expected to train and play friendly matches against some top Turkish opposition. Chiefs have not released any fixtures for the tour yet.
The trip is the Glamour Boys’ first tour outside of the country in 21 years.
Sporting director, Kaizer Motaung Junior said: “The most crucial aspect of a pre-season camp is to make sure that the team is building team unity and overall mental readiness for the season ahead. These are vital as every top team needs to work together to build its internal strength in order to be prepared for the challenges ahead.
Pre-season Camp ✈️🇹![CDATA[]]>🇷 #Amakhosi4Life pic.twitter.com/mrSK2XtUai
— Kaizer Chiefs (@KaizerChiefs) July 2, 2024
New environment
“More specifically for us, with a new incoming coaching structure, it helps for the new coaching team to have the squad away from their normal environment in order to assess what work must be done and how they need to work going forward together.
“We are looking forward to a very productive preparation process, and we hope the team will be able to focus on the job at hand as we gear towards starting the season very strongly.”
The trip to Turkey will be more than just preparing for the new DStv Premiership season, explained marketing and commercial director, Jessica Motaung.
“We are thankful that we are able to realise our dream of preparing the team overseas. This gives us an opportunity to promote the Kaizer Chiefs brand outside of the borders of South Africa. We are looking forward to a successful tour and hope it will lead us to winning, as we did when we came back from Korea in 2003.”
The team will be based in the cities of Izmit and Istanbul during their tour of Turkey, before returning to South Africa to start the new Premiership season. Chiefs finished last season in 10th position on the table, while rivals Orlando Pirates finished second and Mamelodi Sundowns won their seventh league title in a row.
IOL Sport