Mamelodi Sundowns explain decision to keep Miguel Cardoso after 2024/25 Champions League defeat

Mamelodi Sundowns chairman Tlhopie Motsepe has revealed why the club decided to keep Miguel Cardoso as head coach despite their defeat by Pyramids in the 2024/25 CAF Champions League final.

Sundowns were under significant pressure to make a change after losing 3-2 on aggregate to the Egyptian side in the final, with supporters left disappointed by the result.

The defeat came after the club had made it clear that success in Africa was a major priority.

Sundowns had previously parted company with Rulani Mokwena despite the coach winning the Betway Premiership with a record points tally and guiding the club to victory in the inaugural African Football League.

The club indicated that failing to reach the CAF Champions League final had been a major factor behind Mokwena’s departure.

Cardoso, however, was given the opportunity to continue despite the disappointment of losing the Champions League final.

That decision was later rewarded when the Portuguese coach guided Sundowns to their second CAF Champions League title in a decade.

Motsepe has now explained why the club resisted the temptation to dismiss Cardoso during what he described as a difficult period.

“The important factor was the feeling I had, to say, ‘Can we really release somebody in a short space, in this bumpy period?'” Motsepe said in an interview on Sundowns’ official YouTube channel.

“He took us to the final of the CAF Champions League, which we had not been for the past nine years. Do we let go of somebody who allowed our players to express themselves?”

Motsepe also pointed to Sundowns’ performances at the FIFA Club World Cup as evidence that Cardoso’s team was showing signs of progress despite the disappointment of the Champions League final.

“And to play with such bravery at the Club World Cup, if we’re just going through this period right now?” he added.

“Football is a passion-driven business. We live and die by the passion of the game. We’re all in this game because of passion, but it’s very important sometimes to be able to remove yourself and assess the bigger picture.”

Motsepe believes dismissing Cardoso at that stage could have changed the course of Sundowns’ subsequent campaign.

“If we had let go of Coach Miguel at that time, who knows if we would have got the Champions League or the African-Asian Pacific Cup,” he said.

The Sundowns chairman said the club had identified qualities in the team during their Club World Cup campaign that convinced them there was something worth building on.

“What I did believe in at that time was the fact that there were elements that we saw at the Club World Cup that just showed us a Shoeshine and Piano, the Mamelodi Sundowns that was touching something we had not really touched or embodied before,” Motsepe added.

The decision to retain Cardoso ultimately proved significant, with Sundowns going on to deliver the continental success the club had been targeting.

For Motsepe, the episode underlined the importance of looking beyond an isolated result when making major decisions about the future of the club.