Kaizer Chiefs News Today: Da Cruz breaks silence on long coaching absence & more

Kaizer Chiefs news, including Kruger United coach Abram Mongoya’s bold declaration ahead of Saturday’s historic clash, and Fernando da Cruz’s candid defence of his three-year absence from the dugout.

Mongoya calls Chiefs opener ‘the perfect situation’

Newly-promoted Kruger United head coach Abram Mongoya is anything but overawed by the prospect of facing Kaizer Chiefs in his club’s maiden Betway Premiership fixture, describing the opening-day assignment as “the perfect situation.”

The Mpumalanga-based outfit earned automatic promotion after a dominant campaign in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, finishing at the summit of the NFD standings with 62 points from 30 matches — an eight-point gap over second-placed Cape Town City.

In stark contrast to their own seamless rise, Kaizer Chiefs enter the new season looking to build consistency after a mixed campaign that ended with a third-place Betway Premiership finish, accumulating 54 points as their title challenge collapsed midway through the season.

"𝔾𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕖𝕗𝕤 𝔹𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕊𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕀𝕤 ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥"

Kruger United head coach Abram Mongoya reveals why welcoming Kaizer Chiefs to Mbombela Stadium is his dream opening fixture—and what his technical team spotted after studying Amakhosi’s last 3… pic.twitter.com/C9jNC9dOPJ

— Mthokozisi Dube (@dube_mthoko) July 30, 2026

Yet Mongoya showed no signs of trepidation when asked about welcoming the Soweto giants to Mbombela Stadium.

“What a way to start for Kruger United,” the coach said at the Premiership launch as quoted by KickOff. “It is a nice warm welcome. We have built a decent squad and it is going to be a very good game. I can promise we will give our best and make sure we give Chiefs a very good run for their money.”

Da Cruz defends three-year absence from the dugout

Fernando da Cruz has moved to silence doubts about his readiness to lead Kaizer Chiefs, pushing back against suggestions that his extended time away from the head coaching seat leaves him unprepared for the demands of the Betway Premiership.

Saturday’s league opener against Kruger United will be Da Cruz’s first game on the bench in three years.

The Frenchman was last in charge of a team through the 2022/23 season at AS FAR Rabat, after which he served as technical director before a brief spell as assistant coach at Chiefs ahead of taking up a senior role under Jamal Fathi at the Royal Moroccan Football Federation.

When pressed on the lengthy spell away from frontline head coaching, Da Cruz was direct in his response: “But before the Morocco Federation job, I trained AS FAR,” he said, in a tone that suggested he felt the question understated the breadth of his involvement in the game.

“So, I was at training every day and on the bench every week. During the job with the Royal Morocco Federation, I also went inside the training pitch because some of part of my job was on the pitch.”

“So, when I came to the pitch in Naturena it was natural like when you ride a bicycle.”

The 53-year-old holds a UEFA Pro Licence and is no stranger to the Naturena environment, having previously served briefly within the Amakhosi technical team as an assistant coach under Nasreddine Nabi during the 2024 pre-season.