Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Ben Youssef Khalil has insisted the club has made progress in 2025 but it’s too early to put too much pressure about more trophies on the club.
Khalil and Cedric Kaze took charge of Chiefs after the exit of head coach Nasreddine Nabi earlier in the season. They also played a huge role in ending Chiefs 10-year trophy drought in May when they won Nedbank Cup.
The duo has led Chiefs to the CAF Confederation Cup group stages, but so far they lost one and drew the other game. In the league, Amakhosi have visibly improved compared to last season, currently sitting in fifth place with 23 points, five points behind league leaders Orlando Pirates.
When asked to rate the year 2025, Khalil stated that it is difficult for him to answer.
“I think it’s difficult to give now… But in Nedbank Cup, I think we did very well. We won this trophy. In the PSL last season, I think our rank was not good. We didn’t qualify for MTN8,” Khalil told the media.
“For this season, we started very well, even we lost a lot of points. But I think comparing with the last season, we are in the better way.
“The target in the CAF competition, when you are six years not playing this competition, the first step, you have to be in the group stage. And we did this, and we are in the group stage. Next? We are thinking game by game. We don’t have to put a lot of pressure.
“Maybe we discuss a lot about recruitment, but we have to know that all the game we played with 90% of our players from last season. So we continue to fight. We continue to work. It’s process.
“It’s not easy from where we were and now where we are. It’s not easy, we have to continue to work. Everything is coming with work. We can’t just sit and we say, now we have to be there and we have to do that.”
‘We Didn’t Promise The PSL Trophy’
Ben Youssef also insisted the club and it’s fans must be realistic as they can’t expect a team that finished outside the top eight to win the league or win the Confed Cup after not playing the tournament for close to 10 years.
“We have to work. We have to continue to believe. And we don’t have to put a lot of pressure. Because, you see now, because we are performing well in PSL, people will start to discuss about the trophy and everything,” he continued.
“We didn’t promise about the trophy. It’s true that we are big team, and we play every time for the trophy, but also we have to be logic in our mentality, how we think.
“Like I said about the CAF competition, you can’t be out of the CAF competition, and then you come one season to play and to think only to to win this trophy. In PSL last season we was number nine, so first we have to finish the season in top four.
“And if we get opportunity to win one trophy, we’ll fight for this trophy. The first idea is continue to build, step by step, and you don’t have to put a lot of pressure.”
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