Pitso Mosimane Returns as Bafana Bafana Head Coach

Pitso Mosimane is back in charge of South Africa’s men’s national team, a decade after his first spell ended in bruising fashion.

The 62-year-old has been reappointed as Bafana Bafana head coach, replacing Hugo Broos, whose five-year tenure concluded when his contract expired at the end of July.

Broos leaves behind a raised bar. The Belgian guided South Africa to a third-place finish at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and into the last 32 of this year’s World Cup, the country’s first appearance at the finals since hosting the tournament in 2010. Expectations, once modest, have shifted.

Now the job returns to a man who knows exactly how unforgiving it can be.

A Second Chance After a Painful First Stint

Mosimane’s first spell in charge ran from July 2010 to June 2012, a period remembered as much for its missteps as its promise.

The defining moment came in qualifying for the 2012 Afcon. South Africa failed to reach the tournament after mistakenly believing that a draw in their final group match against Sierra Leone would be enough to secure a place at the finals. It wasn’t. The miscalculation became a national embarrassment and hung over the rest of his tenure.

He departed in June 2012, after a 1-1 draw at home to Ethiopia in Bafana Bafana’s opening qualifier for the 2014 World Cup. The sense then was of an opportunity lost.

Now he walks back into the same office with a very different CV.

A Coach Transformed by Continental Success

Since leaving the national team, Mosimane has rebuilt his reputation and then some.

With Mamelodi Sundowns and Egyptian giants Al Ahly, he turned himself into one of Africa’s most decorated modern coaches, lifting the African Champions League three times. His teams became a benchmark for structure, intensity and tactical clarity on the continent.

That success opened doors beyond Africa. Mosimane has since taken on roles in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Iran, testing himself in new environments and under different types of pressure. He returns to Bafana Bafana as a far more seasoned, battle-hardened figure than the one who left in 2012.

Safa Backs Experience

The South African Football Association’s executive committee approved his reappointment on 8 August. Only on Tuesday, though, did Mosimane step back into the spotlight, unveiled to the media in Johannesburg after finalising his contract and assembling his technical team.

The length of his deal has not been made public, a deliberate tight hold on detail that contrasts with the fanfare around his return. What is clear is that Safa has turned to familiarity and proven continental pedigree at a time when the national side has rediscovered its competitive edge.

South Africa are no longer scrambling for respect; Broos’s run at Afcon and the World Cup has restored that. The challenge now is to turn flashes of success into something more sustained.

Mosimane, older, wiser and decorated, must prove that the second act can outshine the first.