As first reported by ThisIsFootball.Africa, Micheal Loftman has joined the Mamelodi Sundowns technical team. The initial thought was that he would join in the new season. That decision has been fast tracked and now Micheal Loftman has joined Downs as the Set Play Coach.
“Mamelodi Sundowns has bolstered its Technical Team and football-department with the appointment of Michael Loftman as Set Play Coach. The appointment was made in an effort to raise the bar including a specialist to the Technical Team. All elite sport is about gaining small margins. Replays and restarts are a significant part of modern-day football and are even more crucial when playing in the CAF Champions League.
“Loftman, who has held various coaching roles as head coach and development coach, holds a UEFA A licence from the English FA and a Sports Science & Coaching Master’s Degree from Brunel University. In his role, the experienced coach and performance data analyst will work on the pitch and compile analytic data to provide information to improve an important part of the game.
“The Sporting Director of Mamelodi Sundowns, Flemming Berg welcomed Michael and said, “we are very happy to have Michael and add his competencies to the experienced and highly qualified technical team.”
Loftman was appointed as head coach of first division side Venda Football Academy in June 2022. Although born in England, Loftman is no stranger to African football having had a few positions previously on the continent. He worked at Orlando Pirates for two years between 2018 and 2020 as head coach of their Diski Challenge side.
Loftman also worked for a period as the Pirates first team performance analyst. He also took his first head coach role at the age of only 25 when he became head coach of Zambian side, Lusaka Dynamos. Loftman also landed a job as part of Carlos Quieroz’s technical team for the Egyptian national team where his role was as head performance analyst.
In addition, Loftman also worked at Belgium club, Lommel Sk, which is part of the City Group, whose main club is Manchester City!
Mamelodi Sundowns will travel to Cameroon for its second ground B Match against Coton Sport Garoua and Loftman will travel with the team.
