Cape Town Spurs face ABC Motsepe League rebuild after promotion setback

Cape Town Spurs head coach Roger de Sa says the club will have to start again in the ABC Motsepe League after missing out on promotion during the 2025/26 campaign.

The Urban Warriors remained in contention for much of the season but could not return to the professional ranks at the first time of asking after dropping into the provincial division. Their promotion hopes ultimately ended as they failed to keep pace with The Immortals, who won Stream A and progressed to the national play-offs.

The Immortals went on to win those play-offs and secure promotion to the Motsepe Foundation Championship. The campaign also saw Cape Town Spurs lose the promotion battle to Hope FC in the Western Cape ABC Motsepe League.

In a professional division, finishing third in the standings last season would normally have provided Cape Town Spurs with a platform to build from. Experience gained during that campaign could have offered continuity and momentum as the club attempted to move back up the South African football pyramid.

However, de Sa says maintaining a settled squad is particularly difficult in the ABC Motsepe League, where players can move between clubs because of the competition’s amateur status.

The returning head coach has also taken on the role of Technical Director, as well as several other responsibilities at the Cape Town club. He is now preparing for another promotion challenge while accepting that the squad may change significantly before and during the next campaign.

“Working with the youngsters, grassroot level, I can’t complain, it’s nice, it’s gonna be enjoyable,” De Sa told KickOff.

“Not in this league, this league there never is (continuity), players chop and change because it’s an amateur league, you can’t hold the players. So there’s always going to be players moving from club to club, that’s perfectly normal,” De said.

The lack of continuity means Cape Town Spurs cannot simply rely on the group that pushed for promotion during the previous season. Instead, de Sa will need to work with young players and help shape another team capable of challenging in the Western Cape ABC Motsepe League.

Despite the difficulty of rebuilding, the coach said he was looking forward to the task of working with youngsters at grassroots level. His wider responsibilities at the club will also place him at the centre of efforts to develop players and construct a squad for the new campaign.

De Sa can draw on extensive experience gained in both club and international football. He was most recently assistant coach to Carlos Queiroz, who led Ghana at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The former Orlando Pirates coach has also worked alongside Queiroz with the national teams of Egypt, Iran and Qatar in recent years.

That background will be important as Cape Town Spurs attempt to recover from their failed promotion campaign. The club must now rebuild in a league where, according to de Sa, regular movement between teams makes continuity difficult to establish.