Pitso Mosimane Returns As Bafana Bafana Head Coach

Pitso Mosimane is back in charge of Bafana Bafana.

The South African Football Association officially unveiled Mosimane as the new head coach of the senior men’s national team on Tuesday, bringing an end to weeks of negotiations and speculation over Hugo Broos’ successor.

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Mosimane returns to the Bafana hot seat 14 years after his first permanent spell came to an end and does so as a vastly different coach to the one who departed in 2012.

He also inherits a vastly different Bafana Bafana.

Broos leaves behind a national team revitalised by five successful years under the Belgian, and Mosimane’s challenge will be to build on that progress rather than start another rebuild.

Pitso Returns To Bafana

Mosimane’s appointment had been expected since early August, when SAFA’s National Executive Committee approved him as its preferred candidate.

However, negotiations over his contract and technical team delayed the official announcement.

Those discussions have now been concluded, allowing one of African football’s most decorated coaches to return to the national team.

Mosimane previously served as an assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira before becoming Bafana head coach following the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

His first spell ultimately ended in disappointment.

South Africa failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations following an infamous qualifying campaign in which Bafana mistakenly believed a draw against Sierra Leone would be enough to send them through.

Mosimane remained in charge afterwards but was eventually dismissed in 2012 following a 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw with Ethiopia.

His overall Bafana record across his interim and permanent spells stands at nine wins, 10 draws and four defeats from 23 matches.

A Different Mosimane Returns

What happened after leaving Bafana transformed Mosimane’s reputation.

He became the dominant coach in South African club football with Mamelodi Sundowns, winning five league titles and guiding the Brazilians to their first CAF Champions League crown in 2016.

His success then travelled beyond South Africa.

Mosimane joined Egyptian giants Al Ahly and won back-to-back CAF Champions League titles in 2020 and 2021, taking his personal tally to three and establishing himself among the continent’s elite coaches.

He subsequently worked in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, gaining experience across several different football environments.

That makes this Bafana appointment particularly intriguing. Mosimane isn’t returning as the promising South African coach who left the national team more than a decade ago.

He returns as a proven continental winner.

“I know that this is bigger than Pitso Mosimane. I accept this role with great humility,” he said after his appointment.

Big Shoes To Fill

The challenge is significant.

Broos inherited a struggling national team in 2021 and gradually transformed Bafana into genuine continental competitors.

South Africa finished third at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations before qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, ending a 24-year wait to reach the tournament through the qualification process.

Bafana then made more history at the World Cup by progressing beyond the group stage for the first time. That means Mosimane isn’t being asked simply to restore credibility to South African football.

The credibility is already there.

His job is to take the next step.

With a talented generation of players and renewed belief surrounding the national team, expectations will understandably be high.

No Time To Settle

Mosimane won’t have long to enjoy his return. Bafana begin their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign later this month, hosting Guinea on 26 September before facing Eritrea four days later.

Their group also includes Kenya, coached by another prominent South African, Benni McCarthy.

With Kenya automatically qualifying for the tournament as one of the three co-hosts, the battle for the remaining qualification place adds further pressure to the campaign.

Mosimane’s first squad selection will therefore offer an immediate glimpse into his plans.

Will he largely retain the group Broos built, or begin putting his own stamp on the side immediately?

Given the progress Bafana have made, evolution rather than revolution may be the sensible starting point.

A Second Chance

Few coaches get an opportunity to return to a national-team job more than a decade after being dismissed.

Even fewer return having achieved as much as Mosimane has in between. His first Bafana tenure will always contain painful memories, but it no longer defines his coaching career.

Three CAF Champions League titles, domestic dominance with Sundowns and experience across the continent and Middle East have fundamentally changed the picture.

Now comes an opportunity to change the final chapter of his Bafana story as well.

Broos has left the jersey in a considerably better place than he found it.

Mosimane’s task is to take it even further.

Fourteen years after leaving SAFA House, Pitso is back.

And this time, he returns with unfinished business.