In a coaching change for the national team, the South African Football Association (SAFA) has announced Molefi Ntseki as the new head coach of Bafana Bafana.
Ntseki will take charge for the upcoming African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers against Egypt, replacing Helman Mkhalele.
The two-legged CHAN qualifier against Egypt will begin on Friday, February 28th, with South Africa hosting the first leg. The return fixture is scheduled for Sunday, March 9th.
SAFA had already revealed the squad for these crucial qualifiers on Saturday. This Wednesday, they officially confirmed Ntseki's appointment to the top coaching position, and announced Raymond Mdaka as his assistant.
NTSEKI RETURNS IN BAFANA BAFANA SET-UP
“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,” he said.
“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).
“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.”
