Molefi Ntseki returns to Bafana Bafana as head coach

The South African Football Association (SAFA) has announced that Molefi Ntseki will lead Bafana Bafana during the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers against Egypt.

The former Kaizer Chiefs coach will be assisted by South African U20 coach Raymond Mdaka.

South Africa will host the Pharaohs of Egypt in the first leg of the CHAN qualifiers at the Free State Stadium on Sunday (kick-off is at 5pm). The second leg will be played in Egypt a week later.

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Bafana assistant coach Helman Mkhalele was meant to lead the team but has since been replaced by Ntseki. SAFA technical committee chairman Jack Maluleke has explained the reasons behind the coaching change.

“Remember, in the last NEC meeting, the SAFA technical committee recommended coach Molefi Ntseki after he was interviewed to head the technical development of SAFA, specifically the academies and junior teams as a manager,” Maluleke told SAFA media.

“After we got information that the South African senior national team coach requested that Helman Mkhalele must be recused from this team because we have the priority of Bafana Bafana playing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin in a few weeks’ time, we agreed.

“Therefore, we as SAFA realized that after the NEC endorsed the name of Molefi Ntseki, we had to check who can replace Mkhalele at this point in time. We thought of him (Ntseki) because he’s the most senior and we requested him to be deployed there on a temporary basis to step in for Helman and he will be assisted by the head coach of the SA U20s (Mdaka).

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“Coach Ntseki is there because he’s in the system and we requested him to assist because we needed somebody who can step in because this is an urgent matter.”

Ntseki recently lost his job as the technical director at Marumo Gallants. He was given the boot by the struggling Betway Premiership side together with head coach Dan Malesela due to poor results.

Below is the Bafana Bafana CHAN squad: