Nasief Morris is the new head coach of the University of Cape Town women’s soccer team.

The former Bafana Bafana defender takes over the reigns from outgoing head coach, Ahmed Parker.

Morris joined the newly promoted UCT women’s team this past Monday, January 20, aiming to build a strong, competitive side that will leave a mark in the Hollywoodbets National Women’s Super League, set to begin in March.

The former Santos cente-back, Morris, expressed his happiness about taking on the new challenge.

“I am honoured to be offered the job. It is a new challenge for me. I’ve never been in women’s football so it’s something new for me so it is a good challenge. I have the backing of the coaching stuff who have been with the team for a couple of years. They will guide me to do certain things. I am happy for the new challenge,” he said.

Morris said they are in a transition phase since the team lost a couple of players at the end of the season, however, the first objective is to fill up the squad and get it ready for the top women’s league in the country.

“The objective is to try and stay up in the league. That is reasonable for a team that just came up. Whether it is in the top eight or higher up from the bottom section and see how things go. But you never know what could happen during the season. Anything can happen so we can take it from there and then I think we can plan better for the next season,” said Morris.

Morris joins UCT Ladies’ first team after coaching stints with Ikapa Sporting and Magic FC in the ABC Motsepe League, as well as Steenberg United and Cape Town Spurs in the NFD.

In his youth days, he received 37 caps for Bafana Bafana.

Morris honed his craft in South Africa’s top league, the PSL, and Europe’s prestigious UEFA Champions League, rubbing shoulders with legends like Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, and Kaka.

He has played for Santos, Aris Salonika, Panathinaikos, Recreative De Huelva, Racing Santander, Apollon Limassol, Supersport United, Santos and finished at Milano United.

Former head coach, Parker, will be working behind the scenes with coach Morris. He said they are in a process of recruiting a few players to join UCT.

“We don’t quite believe in trials in a sense of you come down in one session and there’s a hundred players. We earmark players as we go along over the season. We then contact their club and the conversation happens between us. We invite them to train for a week or two so they can get a feel of our training. If there is a good match we welcome them on board,” said Parker.

“If there are players that we have missed and would like to be invited to our training, they can send a short summary to our Instagram Page. We are more than happy to invite them to train with us,” said Parker.

Coach Parker said their main goal is to avoid relegation. With Coach Morris’s experience, he believes UCT can secure a top-10 finish.

“What people can expect from us is some positive football. We will play with our hearts on our sleeves. It is a part of who we are. We will play an attractive brand of football. Every year we finish one level above the previous year. I am hoping that we continue to improve. That is the motto, to be better than we were the previous year,” said Parker.

Interested players can get in touch with them via their Instagram page: @UCTFC_NWSL.

Nasief Morris gets the better of Ronaldinho in a UEFA Champions League clash in the 2005/2006 season.

Nasief Morris up against Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o in the UEFA Champions League.

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