Barker Provides Insights Into Stellies’ Pre-Season Camp
Stellenbosch head coach Steve Barker has shed light on the developments behind the scenes in their pre-season preparations ahead of the 2025/26 season and CAF inter-club campaigns.
The Cape Winelands outfit staged a respectable showing last season, finishing in third place in the Betway Premiership to seal a return to the CAF Confederation Cup, having impressed in their debut season, where they knocked out Egyptian giants Zamalek SC in the quarterfinals.
In domestic cup competitions, Barker’s men lost the MTN8 final to Orlando Pirates, suffered a Nedbank Cup quarterfinal exit at the hands of eventual winners Kaizer Chiefs, and surrendered their Carling Knockout crown with a narrow defeat to Marumo Gallants in the quarterfinal.
Ahead of the new season, Stellenbosch bolstered the defense with Turan Manafov, Siviwe Nkwali, and Henri Stanic from Kapaz PFK, Cape Town Spurs, and Balzan FC, respectively. Upfront, Stellies signed goal-poacher Muzomuhle Khanyi, who netted 18 goals for Hungry Lions in the second tier last season.
“I think with the new guys, it’s always nice for them to join a new squad, and they have fitted in well. Even the young players that have been promoted from the DDC [Dstv Diski Challenge] fitted in really well,” Barker dissected the integration of the new faces to the club’s media team.
“Obviously, we know them [young players], they’ve trained with us quite often, so it hasn’t been difficult for them to integrate with the team. So, I’m happy with all the players who have come in from other clubs; it’s going well with them, and they have settled in really nicely.
“They have been welcomed by their teammates, they are really good footballers and also really nice people, so it’s all good with them.”
With the new season fast approaching, Barker is pleased with the progress the squad has made upon returning from the off-season, noting that the team is beaming with confidence, setting the tone for elite-level training sessions.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy amongst the squad. The training sessions are working at my level, highly competitive, high-intensity training sessions that we’ve had, so very pleased with the last bit of three weeks we got back from our off-season,” he added.
“We are looking forward to these last three weeks to just fine-tune the team and make sure that we are well prepared, just embedding all our principles that we want to have when we play during the season. So, things are coming together nicely.”
Stellenbosch will square off against newly branded Siwelele FC, JDR Stars, and TS Galaxy in their pre-season friendly matches, before facing AmaZulu in the MTN8 quarterfinals to kickstart their 2025/26 campaign.
