Pitso Mosimane Takes Charge of Bafana Bafana

JOHANNESBURG – Pitso Mosimane is heading back to the Bafana Bafana bench, this time as the man entrusted with steering South Africa into a new era after their historic 2026 FIFA World Cup run.

The South African Football Association (SAFA) has approved Mosimane’s appointment as the new national team coach, closing the chapter on Hugo Broos’ tenure. The decision was signed off at a SAFA National Executive Committee meeting, where members threw their weight behind a coach they know well – and a figure many in South African football have long wanted back in charge.

This is not a romantic gamble. It is a calculated return.

Bafana Bafana arrive at this moment with momentum rarely seen in the modern era. They reached the knockout rounds of the World Cup for the first time, a campaign lit up by a standout victory over South Korea that jolted the country awake and reminded the continent of South Africa’s potential on the biggest stage.

That breakthrough has changed the tone around the national team. Expectations are no longer theoretical. They are real, measurable, and immediate.

Into that pressure walks Mosimane.

SAFA has indicated that a few administrative details still need to be tied up, but the framework is in place and an official announcement is expected next week. The formalities can wait; the direction of travel is already clear.

For Mosimane, this is unfinished business. He first sat in the Bafana Bafana dugout as a caretaker in 2007, then took full control from 2010 to 2012. Those years brought flashes of promise but ended with the sense that both coach and team had more to give, more to prove.

Now he returns to a side that has finally broken through a psychological barrier on the world stage. The question is no longer whether South Africa can compete at that level. It is whether Mosimane can turn a historic World Cup run into a sustained era of relevance – and whether Bafana Bafana can live with the demands that come with it.