Rulani Mokwena has revealed his ambitions of restoring Wydad Casabalanca to the pinnacle of African football after he was officially unveiled as the club's new head coach.
That Wydad reached out to Mokwena's agent just hours after parting ways with Mamelodi Sundowns speaks to how committed they were to having the 37-year-old at the club.
In his first press briefing on Thursday, Mokwena detailed how the negotiations spanned over a period of time as there were details that needed to be ironed out, but has turned his attention to his task at hand - awaking a sleeping giant!
"I understand how big a challenge this is, and believe me, I don't come here with my eyes closed. The negotiations have taken quite a long time because there were quite a few things that we had to agree on and one thing I really appreciate is that the board is as ambitious as I am and have committed themselves to giving us full support to wake up a sleeping giant. And I think our work is not to teach Wydad how to win as a football club. I mean 22 league titles, three Champions Leagues and it's a team that knows how to win," he told journalists in attendance as per the club's live social media feed.
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"Ours is just to come in and remind them of what Wydad stands for, and then when you speak about love. When I did my history on the club, I found out that the word Wydad means love, appreciation and so the same love and appreciation that I've once felt from the supporters as an opponent, I'm grateful that things have turned and now I receive the same amount of love and maybe even more as I joined this incredible family. So yeah, it's going to be a very, very difficult task, but I think it's one that the board also understands how difficult it's going to be, the, the supporters understand how difficult it's going to be - but difficult does not mean impossible and our job is to get this club back to where it belongs," he said.
When asked about his ambitions for the season, Mokwena has targeted first the Moroccan Botola Pro 1 League, which was won by cross-town rivals Raja Casablanca and thereafter the FIFA Club World Cup which takes place in June next year.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself and without even speaking to the board, to the President about the objectives, but I put a lot of pressure on myself and I want to win every single game. I wanna win every game. I want to try to win every trophy in sport, it's impossible to win every single game and to win every trophy. But you've got to try and this club has seen many, many, many good years, especially in the 1990s where they won almost every trophy available, including the Champions League and hopefully we can work together to put together another strong, Wydad side that can dominate, not just Moroccan football but African football and maybe even leave a global footprint, particularly by participating in the Club World Cup," he added.
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