New Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer has opened up on his appointment, saying he turned down 10 offers from various countries before signing.

The German arrived at the club at the beginning of December 2019 to replace interim manager Rhulani Mokwena.

The job at Pirates is Zinnbauer’s first foray into African football and he has now revealed he took his time in choosing the Sea Robbers after turning down a number of other jobs.

‘I got a call from someone at Pirates like normal, because we have phones and emails in Germany too,’ Zinnbauer joked as he recalled his first encounter with the club.

‘No, it was the normal way. My agent called me and asked if I would be keen to come here. But six weeks before that I had another offer from Africa, though I decided Pirates would be a good fit because it is a good club.

‘This one was important for me because over the last seven months or so I had 10 offers – from Cyprus, Turkey and several other countries. But I decided to wait because I had the time. I had a contract in Switzerland, it was easy for me. And then I had a good feeling about this, that this was important for me,’ added Zinnbauer.

‘I felt I could do some good work here – like everyone, you can decide to follow the money. But I don’t follow the money, it has to be a good fit for me and I must have time for it.’