Cavin Dennis Johnson (born 11 November 1958)Kickoff PSL Yearbook 2012/2013, p. 40 is a South African

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach who most recently worked as an interim coach at

Kaizer Chiefs Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) is a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premiership. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Kings" or "Chiefs" in Zu ...

in the

DStv Premiership The South African Premiership, also known as the Betway Premiership for sponsorship reasons, and commonly referred to as the PSL after its governing body, is a professional soccer league in South Africa and the highest level of the South Afric ...

. Johnson has previously managed South African clubs

Platinum Stars Platinum Stars was a South African football club based in Phokeng near Rustenburg, North West Province that played in the Premier Soccer League. The club was nicknamed ''Dikwena'', the Tswana name for ''Crocodiles''. The team's best finish in ...

(twice),

SuperSport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional association football, football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the South African Premier Di ...

AmaZulu Zulu people (; ) are a native people of Southern Africa of the Nguni people, Nguni. The Zulu people are the largest Ethnic groups in South Africa, ethnic group and nation in South Africa, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. They o ...

and

Black Leopards Black Leopards FC is a South African professional association football, football club based in Thohoyandou, Vhembe, Vhembe Region, Limpopo, that plays in the National First Division. History The club was founded in 1983 by business people in ...

in the

Premier Soccer League The Premier Soccer League (PSL) is the administrative body for professional soccer leagues and cups in South Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, and was founded in 1996 following an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnant ...

Coaching career

Johnson is one of many coaches that came under the tutelage of

Ted Dumitru Theodore "Ted" Dumitru (born Dumitru Teodorescu; 2 September 1939 – 26 May 2016) was a Romanian football manager who is best known for his time in South Africa. Dumitru was one of few coaches who have led South Africa's 'big three' clubs ...

. Before accepting the head coaching role at

in 2012, Johnson mainly worked as youth and assistant coach for various clubs in South Africa among them assistant coach and later head of youth development at

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and ma ...

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

and most recently

. In his first season as head coach he led Stars to a 2nd-place finish in the PSL and subsequently joined

to replace the outgoing

Gavin Hunt Gavin John Hunt (born 11 July 1964) is a South African former football (soccer) player and coach who currently manages Supersport United. He previously managed Premier Soccer League club Kaizer Chiefs. On 28 May 2021 Kaizer Chiefs released him ...

. Johnson managed SuperSport between 2013 and 2014 for 39 matches, achieving 1.36 points per game. After being sacked by SuperSport he returned to

in March 2015, guiding the club to third place in the league in the 2015–16 season. After a ninth-placed finish in 2016–17, Johnson left Platinum Stars when the club decided not to renew his contract. On 8 August 2017, he was appointed as the head coach of newly-promoted AmaZulu in the Premier Soccer League - succeeding Joey Antipas. He was fired by AmaZulu in August 2019, after a poor start to the Club's 2019/20 season, accumulating 2 points from 15 (first 5 games), and not having won a game since April 2019. Following the resignation of Luc Eymael from

on 27 December 2019, Johnson was named as the new Black Leopards mentor on 29 December 2019. On 27 January 2020, after being in charge of Leopards for only 5 matches, Johnson was suspended from his duties as head coach - this due to a string of poor performances (four losses and one draw). On 31 January 2020 it was announced that Johnson had officially parted ways with Black Leopards. He holds a SAFA Level III Pro Licence, Dutch FA (KNVB) certificate, Brazil FA Advanced Course certificate and his preferred formation is 4-4-2. In 1994, Johnson discovered

Steven Pienaar Steven Jerome Pienaar (; born 17 March 1982) is a South African former professional footballer and current coach of the U14 team of Sharjah FC in the United Arab Emirates. He hails from Westbury, a suburb in Johannesburg's Westrand. He was a ...

and later brought him to the School of Excellence where Johnson worked as youth coach at the time. Both hail from Westbury in Johannesburg. In October 2020, he became an assistant coach to

Pitso Mosimane Pitso John Hamilton Mosimane (born 26 July 1964) is a South African former professional football player and current coach. Club career Mosimane started his senior career at Jomo Cosmos, then he played for Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pira ...

at Egyptian club

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

. In October 2023, he was appointed interim coach of

He left in July 2024 after leading Chiefs to tenth in the 2023–24 Premiership, their lowest ever finish in the

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...

era.

Personal life

Johnson is married, with three children. Johnson suffered a heart attack on 31 January 2020, spending two nights in hospital under observation.

Honours

Club Honours

: ** Runner-up: 2012–13 (with Platinum Stars F.C.) *The Msunduzi Cup: ** Winner: 2019 (with

AmaZulu F.C. AmaZulu Football Club is a South African professional soccer club based in the city of Durban in the KwaZulu Natal province, that plays in the South African Premiership, Premiership, the first tier of the South African football league system. ...

) * Kwa-Zulu Natal Premiers Cup: ** Winner: 2018 (with

)

Personal Honours

South African Premier Division The South African Premiership, also known as the Betway Premiership for sponsorship reasons, and commonly referred to as the PSL after its governing body, is a professional soccer league in South Africa and the highest level of the South Afric ...

Coach of the Month: September/October 2015; November/December 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Cavin 1958 births Living people South African soccer managers Sportspeople from Johannesburg Platinum Stars F.C. managers SuperSport United F.C. managers AmaZulu F.C. managers