Abubakaar "Boebie" Solomons (born March 22, 1955 in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, Western Cape

Western Cape

The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...

) is a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n football (soccer)

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 coach who currently works as head coach at Premier Soccer League

Premier Soccer League

Premier Soccer League is the trading name of the National Soccer League of South Africa. The top league is the ABSA Premiership, sponsored by ABSA...

 club Engen Santos. He is one of the few footballing coaches in the country to have won winners medals for both the PSL league title (as assistant to Gordon Igesund

Gordon Igesund

Gordon Igesund is a former South African football player and coach who became manager of Premier Soccer League club Moroka Swallows in 2010.-Playing career:...

 at Santos) and the Mvela Golden League (as head coach with Bidvest Wits). He has also coached South Africa at under-20 level.

Playing career

Solomons played as a midfielder

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 for Glendene and Cape Town Spurs during his playing career. He was known by the nickname "Asem" (the Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

 word for "breath") due to his impressive stamina and work rate.

Coaching career

Solomons moved into coaching shortly after retiring from playing, and joined the coaching staff at Santos for the first time in the late 1980s. In 1998, he was appointed head coach of the South Africa under-20 team

South Africa national under-20 football team

The South Africa national under-20 football team, is a youth football team, which represents South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association, the governing body for football in South Africa. The team's main objectives are to qualify and play at the African Youth...

. He then joined Santos in 1999, where he initially worked as a youth coach, before becoming involved with the coaching of the senior team in 2000. He was appointed as the club's caretaker-coach on several occasions, including a spell in 2002 where the club won the BP Top Eight Cup, before being appointed as permanent head coach in 2003 following the resignation of Muhsin Ertugral

Muhsin Ertugral

Muhsin Ertuğral is a Turkish football coach. He speaks German, Turkish and English fluently. He grew up in Cologne, Germany.Ertuğral is most notable for coaching in Africa.-Coaching career:...

. He went on to lead the team to the final of the ABSA Cup, where Santos defeated Ajax Cape Town 2–0. In October 2004, he was sacked due to the team's poor performances in the CAF Confederation Cup

CAF Confederation Cup

The CAF Confederation Cup is an international club association football competition run by the Confederation of African Football.-Qualification:...

.

Solomons had a short stint with Maritzburg United

Maritzburg United

Maritzburg United is a South African football club based in the city of Pietermaritzburg that currently competes in the Premier Soccer League.-Notable former coaches: Gordon Igesund Ernst Middendorp Trott Moloto Kosta Papic Boebie Solomons...

 before being appointed as coach at Bidvest Wits, who had recently been relegated to the Mvela Golden League, at the start of the 2005–06 season. Solomons guided the team to promotion back to the top flight during his first season in charge, but was sacked in March 2007 due to a poor run of results. After brief spells at Black Leopards

Black Leopards

Black Leopards are a South African football club based in Makhado, Limpopo that plays in the Premier Soccer League.-History:The club was founded in 1983 by business people in Venda. In 1998 the club was taken over by the Thidiela family...

 and Winners Park

Winners Park

Winners Park is a football club based in Mookgopong, which is a city roughly 100km SouthWest of Polokwane, situated inside the Limpopo province of South Africa. They were relegated from the National First Division to Vodacom League in May 2010...

, he returned to Santos as the club's Director of Football in November 2008. He was once again appointed as head coach of Santos in July 2009.

Coaching career highlights

2005/6 Won Mvela Golden League Championship and promotion to the Premier Soccer League

with Bidvest Wits as Head Coach.

1998 Appointed as Head Coach of South African U20’s national squad.

1996 Won National Soccer League championship in second division with Milano FC

1995–2005 Executive member of SAFA Western Province

1995–1996 As assistant coach, toured with SA U20’s national team to Lesotho, Germany and Italy.

Honours

2003 Absa Cup winners

2002 BP Top 8 winners

2002 Premier Soccer League champions (as Santos FC Assistant Coach)

2001 Bob Save Super Bowl winners (as Santos FC Assistant Coach)