Broos: Safa appoint Belgian as Bafana Bafana coach

Safa have announced Africa Cup of Nations-winning coach Hugo Broos as the new Bafana Bafana tactician.

The South Africa job is the Belgian’s fourth in Africa after previously taking charge of Algerian clubs JS Kabylie and NA Hussein Dey as well as Cameroon whom he guided to the 2017 Afcon triumph and the Fifa Confederations Cup later that year.  

Hugo replaces Molefi Ntseki who was fitted at the end of March after failing to help Bafana qualify for the 2022 Afcon finals. 

The appointment of the Belgian ends weeks of speculation about who was going to be the next man to take charge of South Africa. 

With the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers fast approaching, Safa had to move faster in their search for a coach after at one time they reportedly got closer to bringing back Carlos Queiroz but a deal could not materialise. 

Pitso Mosimane and Benni McCarthy’s names were prominently mentioned as a possible new Bafana coach while Herve Renard distanced himself from rumours that he had applied.to take over from Ntseki. 

Broos takes over a team whose fans are hurt after failure to qualify for the Afcon tournament to be held in Cameroon next year.  

The formerRSC Anderlecht and Club Brugge coach’s first assignment in the Bafana seat would be taking his team to Harare for the June 5 World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe in what presents him with a tough test. 

Another stern challenge awaits six days later when South Africa host Ghana in what would be their second Group G match. 

With Bafana having last qualified for the World Cup in 2002, Broos is pressed to help the team to Qatar 2022 and bury the Afcon disappointment.  

Since leaving Cameroon in December 2017, Broos was KV Oostende sporting director between March 2018 and April 2019, including a one month role as caretaker coach within that period.