Belgian Hugo Broos named as the new Bafana Bafana coach

Belgian Hugo Broos has been named the new coach of Bafana Bafana‚ the South African Football Association (Safa) announced on Wednesday.

Broos (69) arrives with an impressive CV‚ most notably having won league titles in Belgium with Club Brugge twice and once with Anderlecht‚ and led Cameroon to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations title.

The announcement was made at the SA Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) Radio Park in Auckland Park.

Broos’s name is believed to have been one of five that Safa’s technical committee confirmed as their shortlist to an NEC meeting on April 24.

That list‚ sources have said‚ consisted of Portuguese ex-Bafana and Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz‚ AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy‚ Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane‚ Kaizer Chiefs boss Gavin Hunt‚ and either Broos or Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard.

Safa‚ sources had revealed‚ approached both Queiroz and McCarthy in recent weeks‚ but the association was unable to meet demands from both regarding the fellow technical staff they wanted the association to appoint.

Broos‚ who had expressed an interest in the Bafana job‚ and who had confirmed to TimesLIVE on Tuesday night that he had been contacted by Safa‚ is not believed to have made such demands regarding his technical staff.

Broos replaces Molefi Ntseki‚ who Safa said was released from his contract as Bafana head coach on March 31‚ after the national team’s failure to qualify for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

A 1970s and 1980s defender who earned 24 caps for Belgium‚ Broos’s playing career was spent mostly at RSC Anderlecht (350 appearances) and Club Brugge (161).

He began his coaching career at RWD Molenbeek in 1988‚ and from 1991 to 1997 at Club Brugge won league titles in 1991-92 and 1995-96‚ the Belgian Cup in 1994-95 and 1995-96‚ and Belgian Supercup in 1991‚ 1992‚ 1994 and 1996.

Coaching Anderlecht from 2003 to 2005 he won the 2003-04 league title. He coached late former Bafana right-back Anele Ngcongca at KRC Genk in 2008.

Since then his career has taken him to Panserraikos in Greece‚ Trabzonspor in Turkey‚ Al Jazira in United Arab Emirates‚ JS Kabylie and NA Hussein Dey in Algeria‚ and then Cameroon from 2016 to 2017.

Most recently he was sports director, then caretaker-manager of Oostende‚ where Mamelodi Sundowns star Andile Jali played until 2018‚ in Belgium between 2018 and 2019.

Broos was sacked as coach of the Indomitable Lions by the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot) in December 2017‚ 10 months after he led them to their fifth Africa Cup of Nations title in Gabon that year‚ reportedly over pay issues.

Cameroon beat Egypt 2-1 in the Nations Cup final on February 5 2017.

They had progressed through the group stage with a win and two draws‚ then beat Senegal on penalties in the quarterfinals‚ and Ghana 2-0 in the semis.

Having coached in North and West Africa on the continent‚ Broos will have an adjustment to make to a different playing style and mental approach in South Africa.

He also must undergo a quick crash course on SA football and the players he has available as Bafana’s 2022 Qatar World Cup group stage qualification campaign begins with the match against Zimbabwe in Harare on the weekend of June 5 to 6.