VETERAN Serbia-born coach, Veselin Jelusic (VJ) hit the ground running following his appointment as Likuena head coach helping the Mountain Kingdom country clinch a 3-1 aggregate victory over Seychelles to reach the group stage of the 2023 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations.

Lesotho have since been drawn in Group H alongside hosts Cote d’voire alongside Comoros and Zambia.

In this interview, the LeFA media team discusses with the Serbian gaffer the mammoth task awaiting his side in Group H.

LeFA: Coach Veselin, welcome to the Mountain Kingdom and congratulations on your appointment as the national team’s head coach.

VJ: Thank you very much. It is a great honour for me to be chosen among so many good candidates to be the head coach of the Lesotho National Team.

LeFA: Please give us a brief background of Coach Veselin Jelusic.

VJ: As a coach, I started working quite early. In parallel with my work at the Faculty of Sports in Belgrade, about Football, I worked in the Serbian football clubs Čukarički, Hajduk and Obilič. I gained my first coaching qualifications and experience quite early. So, at the age of 35, I was already in Angola, Africa coaching FC ASA, with whom I achieved significant results. That later opened doors for me and I was appointed as the country’s national teams’ head coach.

I also worked for eight years in Botswana - four years as the national team head coach and the other four years as the coach in charge of Youth Football and Development for the Botswana Football Association. Thereafter, I worked as Bloemfontein Celtic’s coach in the South African Premier League as well as in Lusaka, Zambia for FC City.  

I also spend some time in Russia working for FC Krasnodar and of course, all this time I was employed in Serbia, as a part-time Professor of Football at the College of Sports in Belgrade.

LeFA: You had a dream start to your tenure as the Lesotho coach helping them book a place in the group stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

VJ: The matches against Seychelles were very important for all of us. From the beginning, we had a serious approach because any relaxation in games like these can be very dangerous. In fact, the Technical Director, Mr Leslie Notsi, started the preparations back in January, which we continued so that a successful result was achieved because of a seriously organised and implemented plan of action for the given matches.

LeFA: What’s your assessment of football in Lesotho since you arrived?

VJ: So far, I have had the opportunity to watch with our Technical Director, several exciting matches and see all the teams. In addition to the players who are already in the national team, we have identified some young players that we will occasionally invite to the camps to gain the necessary experience and join the national team if they show progress with time.

LeFA: Coaching a national team comes with a lot of pressure. What can Basotho expect from Likuena under your mentorship?  

VJ: I will give it my best together with my colleagues and everyone who works for the progress of football in Lesotho, to make our fans feel satisfied and proud.

LeFA: Like you said, you have worked in the continent since 1992, in countries like Botswana, Angola, South Africa, and Zambia. So how far are we from those countries as far as football development is concerned?

VJ: Due to obligations with the senior national team, I have not had the opportunity to get acquitted in more detail with the development programmes on youth football in Lesotho, although I received a lot of information from the Technical Director and my colleagues. Of course, without the development of youth football, there is no progress, no future, and the task for all of us is to pay the greatest attention to it and get as close as possible to the positive examples around us and in the world in general.

LeFA: Very few people are aware that Uganda national team’s coach, Milutin Sredojevic was your student during your time at the Faculty of Sports in Belgrade.

VJ: Yes, I can proudly say that because Milutin Sredojevic-Micho is a very successful coach, who has coached many famous African clubs and national teams and managed to achieve significant success with them.