Kaizer Chiefs assistant responds to title charge expectations

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Ben Youssef addresses expectations to challenge for the league

Photo: Phakamisa Lensman/BackPagePix

Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef has addressed the expectations on whether the Soweto giants can go all the way and challenge for the Betway Premiership title, amidst their strong start to the 2025/26 season.

Amakhosi won their first three league matches on the trot, brushing aside Stellenbosch FC, Polokwane City and Richards Bay respectively. The last time Chiefs achieved this feat; they went on to win the championship back in the 2014/15 campaign.

Now, with improved performances in contrast to the previous two terms and the ambition shown in the transfer market as the Glamour Boys recruited a staggering nine new players, expectations are high at Naturena.

However, the Chiefs second in command remained tight-lipped when pressed about the club’s targets for this season, but insists they are under no illusion with the reality that a team of Chiefs’ stature should be challenging for major honors, including the league title.

“We have our target inside the team between the players and the technical staff, and it’s written in our meeting room in the village, you can ask about it,” said Ben Youssef, who has been in charge of the team alongside Cedric Kaze in the absence of Nasreddine Nabi.

“We know what we have to do, and we keep it between ourselves. For us, we take it game by game, we don’t think about anything else, we don’t have pressure. For sure, Kaizer Chiefs is one of the biggest teams in South Africa, if we play in the league, we play to win the league.

While he is optimistic Chiefs can be a force to be reckoned with, Ben Youssef cautioned that there is still room for improvement despite early eye-catching displays. Moreover, the Tunisian tactician believes the integration of the other new signings to the squad will take the team to another level.

“I think it’s very important for us and the players to have more confidence. I think there are still a lot of things to improve in this team, but until now let me say 60% or 70% we are happy about the performance,” he added.

“There is a lot of things to continue and with the new players, we will have more solutions to help the team and now I think defensively we perform very well. We still have some things to [improve] our offensive animation, to give more solutions and create more chances to score.

The Soweto giants are currently in second place on the Betway Premiership standings, level on points with log leaders Sekhukhune United, who have a superior goal difference. Chiefs will return to action with a mammoth clash against Mamelodi Sundowns on Wednesday, 27 August.