Did Ben Youssef & Kaze backstab ex-Kaizer Chiefs coach Nabi?

Nasreddine Nabi included Cedric Kaze and Khalil Ben Youssef to his technical team when he was appointed as Kaizer Chiefs head coach at the beginning of the 2024/25 season.

However, just six games into the 2025/26 Premier Soccer League campaign, the Tunisian was gone. A majority of the football loving fans expected Kaze and Ben Youssef to follow their boss out. However, it wasn’t the case; the duo took over as Amakhosi co-coaches.

Former Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi was very demanding. Photo: Kaizer Chiefs

The two struggled to help the Soweto giants deliver in the Carling Knockout and CAF Confederation Cup, but they helped Chiefs to finish third on the PSL table.

Nevertheless, the two were accused of backstabbing Nabi after agreeing to replace him at the club. Ben Youssef has denied the claims, insisting it was not the case, especially after Nabi failed to acknowledge them in his farewell note.

It was Nabi’s decision to resign

“Nabi arrived with me and Fernando [da Cruz]. Majdi [Safi] and Ilyes [Mzoughi]. Fernando da Cruz then decided to go back to Morocco to join the FRMF. He went back in August, and we spent two months without a second assistant coach. Then in October, Cedric joined us. But the question? You gave the answer,” Ben Youssef told iDiski Times.

Nasreddine Nabi and his Kaizer Chiefs coaching staff.

“The decision was coming from coach Nabi, to resign. And it was a discussion, the only three people who know the reality of what’s going on are Mr Kaizer Jr, Coach Nabi and Cedric. They were together in every meeting, in that moment. Just to go back, it was the accident of the wife of coach Nabi.

“Then he travelled back for a month, we took charge for three games, then people tried to push and saying we’re doing the job, not coach Nabi. You were there in those press conferences, and we always said the honest and direct thing that we’re together, the game plan is coming from coach Nabi, and we’re working as a team, it’s the whole technical staff,” he added.

We didn’t backstab Nabi

“Then he came back, and after one month, it was two weeks, then a decision coming from him to resign, he told them he wanted to leave the team. So, there’s the answer. How do you want to resign and then be accused that Khalil and Cedric did this or that?

Kaizer Chiefs co-coaches Cedric Kaze and Khalil Ben Youssef. Photo: Kaizer Chiefs

“I was with him for three seasons at Young Africans, ASFAR Rabat, and at Chiefs – so if I was bad as people said, why would he bring me along all the time? Anyway, it was a moment of this season. But there’s people at the Village who can confirm what happened. I prefer not to speak much about this subject, from my side.

“I know from the first day to the last day, I was more than honest with him. I helped him a lot, and he knows this. But if people want to talk and say we [backstabbed] him, it’s for them to say. People at Chiefs know the story and everything,” Ben Youssef concluded.