Kruger United Sporting Director Elasto Kapowezha spoke exclusively to Efirbet in a 25-minute phone interview from the club’s training facility. He reflected on his journey from professional football to club administration, the challenges he faced at Swallows, and his ambitions with Kruger United.
The former Ria Stars midfielder is venturing into uncharted territory, as few retired footballers choose this path. Most opt for tracksuits, a whistle and soccer boots, spending countless hours on the field in a different role—as coaches on the bench, guiding others instead of playing.
Although Kapowezha began coaching at FC AK soon after announcing his retirement, he became fascinated by the inner workings of running a football club and contributing to its success beyond managing on-field play. The 52-year-old shares the view of several retired footballers in South Africa who believe former players should run the game to address the challenges hampering its growth in many African countries.
Describing his decision to leave coaching, Kapowezha explained to Efirbet:
I had to move into football administration. I just felt that there were too many of us involved in coaching, but where were the administrators? I felt I needed to break the barrier and change the scope.
I swapped my tracksuit for a tie and suit because I wasn’t that passionate about coaching, but administration became something that I was fascinated with. Used to feel very intimidated when people from other sectors would become administrators in football, we would have to outsource because we are not strong academically.
The defensive midfielder, who also tried his hand in several attacking positions, stressed that communication and clubs keeping their promises to players are key to winning silverware and dominating opponents.
After leaving Swallows, where he had a public spat with head coach Steve Komphela over the running of the club—with Komphela accusing him of being unprofessional—Kapowezha says he learned valuable lessons.
There lessons in everything that you go through in life and the biggest one is no matter what happens or how bad things might look we can still achieve we can still reach greater heights, you can burry your head in the sand you need to keep on pushing, that is the spirit I bring to Kruger, no one is perfect but you need to come out of challenges with something.
Reflecting on last season’s success in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, United’s sporting director highlighted the heavy defeats the team suffered before lifting the silverware and earning promotion to the Premier League, Kapowezha said:
We had moments last season where we were hammered but we didn’t panic we found football solutions to get back to winning ways. We also realised we are not good starts we normally pick up on game number six or seven in the last two seasons in the MFC. We are confident the results are going to change, we dominate games and create opportunities we have shown our philosophy, we will retain our PSL status.
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