After much speculation in the past few weeks, SAFA have appointed Hugo Broos as the new manager of the Bafana Bafana national team. The decision was made on Wednesday afternoon.
The Belgian will take over the much talked about job that has been vacant since the dismissal of Molefi Ntseki over a month ago. It remains to be seen what would play out but recent reports claim Ntseki could still play apart in the national team setup, possibly as the assistant to Broos.
Benni McCarthy was the huge favorite for the job as per recent reports but talks broke down after the AmaZulu manager’s personal demands were deemed too high by SAFA. As a result, Broos was left as the last credible candidate and talks moved on swiftly until the final appointment today. The Belgian secures the job ahead of the likes of Carlos Queiroz, Pitso Mosimane and most recently Benni McCarthy that were all linked with the vacancy.
Broos is a highly reputable manager who has made many stints across Europe over the past decade. On the continental front, he has also coached in Algeria but his most high-profile role in Africa came when he led the Les Lions of Cameroon between 2016 and 2017.
The appointment of Broos comes at a time when South Africa are in desperate need to qualify for major tournaments.
The major task on his hands now would be making sure that Bafana Bafana secure a spot in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Bafana Bafana would likely get their FIFA World Cup qualifier fixtures in June, provided CAF don’t make any postponements to the current schedule over the coming weeks.
Broos is well-known to be an attacking manager and it would be interesting to see what type of game he brings to South Africa.