Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze has responded defiantly to critics who have questioned his credentials, dismissing suggestions that he is nothing more than a translator who stumbled into a head coaching role at the Glamour Boys.
The Burundian tactician, who shares the dugout with Khalil Ben Youssef following the departure of Nasreddine Nabi earlier this season, has faced scrutiny from sections of the public and social media who have doubted his legitimacy as a coach at the Soweto giants.
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Kaze, however, is unbothered.
“You know, I know football is quite difficult and social media and everyone thinks their opinions are important but the biggest thing is the trust we have from the club and the trust we have in ourselves,” he said after the 2-0 win over TS Galaxy on Sunday.
Far from being a newcomer to the technical side of the game, Kaze carries an extensive coaching résumé that stretches across multiple continents. He began his coaching journey with Burundi’s national teams, starting as an assistant coach at U17 level in 2007, before progressing through the senior national team and the U20 and U23 setups until 2015.
He subsequently moved to Canada, where he worked at a youth football training institution, before landing a role at the FC Barcelona satellite Academy, where he spent two-and-a-half years. He also served as an assistant to Nabi at Young Africans in Tanzania, where the pair played a key role in winning the Tanzanian Premier League and the CAF Confederation Cup.
That experiences, Kaze says, is what gives him the confidence to tune out the noise.
“I was going to say what others said before, it’s the biggest club in South Africa, I was born in a small country, Burundi — what are the odds that I’d be here? Which means I have been in very big spaces and these [comments] don’t hurt me personally.
“I know what I am capable of and with the trust that we have from the club, we will do everything we can do to place the team where it belongs.”
His words are backed by recent evidence. During the FIFA international break in March, Kaze was called up by the Fédération de Football du Burundi to serve as Technical Adviser to the national team for their AFCON 2027 preliminary qualifiers against Chad.
Burundi produced impressive performances across both legs, with former international goalkeeper Aime Kitenge noting it was the first time in the country’s history that they had won both legs so convincingly.
Kitenge was emphatic in his praise, saying Kaze’s presence brought a refreshing feel to the national team and that his football intelligence and influence were evident even within a single camp.
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