Pitso Mosimane is poised to return as South Africa’s national football coach for a second spell, with the South African Football Association (SAFA) selecting the 62-year-old to replace veteran Belgian coach Hugo Broos.
SAFA President Danny Jordaan confirmed that Mosimane was the association’s choice, although some final details still needed to be resolved before the appointment could be formally confirmed.
We still need to tie up some loose ends,” Jordaan said in a statement issued by SAFA. Jordaan said.
Jordaan also added that the association expected to make the appointment official the following week.
We will make a formal announcement of the coach next week,” he said.
Mosimane previously managed South Africa after the 2010 World Cup, taking over from Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, under whom he had worked for three years.
His first spell ended in 2012 when he was dismissed following a disappointing start to South Africa’s 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Mosimane was also heavily criticised after South Africa failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Reuters reported that he had misunderstood the qualification permutations before the decisive match against Sierra Leone.
South Africa played defensively at home, believing a draw would be sufficient.
In fact, the team needed a victory to qualify. After the match, Mosimane and his players celebrated before being informed that they had misunderstood the regulations, which placed head-to-head results ahead of goal difference as the tiebreaker.
Despite that difficult end to his first national-team tenure, Mosimane rebuilt his reputation as one of Africa’s most successful club coaches.
He led South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns to the African Champions League title in 2016.
He then moved to Egyptian giants Al Ahly in 2020, where he immediately enjoyed further continental success.
Under Mosimane, Al Ahly reached three consecutive Champions League finals.
The Egyptian club won the competition in 2020 and 2021 before finishing runners-up in 2022.Those successes took Mosimane’s total number of African Champions League titles to three, two with Al Ahly and one with Sundowns.
He subsequently coached clubs in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
Reuters also noted that Mosimane had spells as a player in Greece and Qatar.
His return to the South African national team follows Broos’ decision to leave the post after the 2026 World Cup; the Belgian, 74, had been in charge of Bafana Bafana since May 2021.
During his tenure, he guided South Africa to third place at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and to the knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup — the country’s first appearance in the World Cup knockout rounds.
South Africa were eliminated in the round of 32 after losing to co-hosts Canada.
Broos subsequently decided not to renew his contract and retired from professional coaching.
Broos had reportedly been offered an extension through the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, but chose to step down.
He had already indicated before the World Cup that he was considering retirement.
His departure leaves Mosimane facing an immediate competitive assignment.
According to Reuters, Mosimane’s first matches are expected to be 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea at home and Eritrea away next month.
The qualifiers will begin South Africa’s campaign to reach next year’s continental tournament, which will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
The appointment would therefore give Mosimane little time to settle back into the national-team environment.
His immediate task will be to guide South Africa through the qualifying campaign while building on the progress achieved under Broos.
For Mosimane, the return also represents an opportunity to rewrite the ending of his first stint with Bafana Bafana.
Since leaving the national-team job in 2012, he has accumulated significant continental experience and won three African Champions League titles.
SAFA, however, had not yet formally announced the appointment at the time of Reuters’ report.
Jordaan said outstanding matters still needed to be resolved before the association could officially confirm Mosimane as the new coach.
