Nabi’s appointment at Chiefs good for SA football: Bafana coach Hugo Broos

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has welcomed the appointment of an experienced and respected coach, Nasreddine Nabi, at Kaizer Chiefs, saying it can only help improve not only Amakhosi but South African football.

Nabi, 59, gained some prominence on the African continent after he won back-to-back league titles with Young Africans in Tanzania in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. 

The Belgian coach made the comment about Nabi's arrival at Naturena after announcing his latest Bafana squad to play Uganda and South Sudan in next week’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.

Bafana will host Uganda at Orlando Stadium on September 6 before travelling to South Sudan for a match at Juba Stadium (artificial) on September 10.

Asked what Nabi, the well-travelled Tunisian-born mentor, may offer Amakhosi, Broos said he knew Nabi well and believes he was the right man to coach a big club like Chiefs — which is under pressure to win a trophy after going an unprecedented nine years without one.

“I spoke with him, yes,” said Broos of his first meeting in South Africa with Nabi at the Sandton hotel both coaches are staying in. “When I came back from Belgium [recently], I didn't know he was living in the same building where I live. Someone from Kaizer Chiefs came to me and said, ‘the coach wants to speak to you’, when I was sitting there having coffee.

“I spoke to him and, yeah, he’s a very good coach. I think when you see what’'s happening [with new signings] at Chiefs, it’s a different thing, huh,” said the Bafana coach of the respect Nabi seems to be getting from Chiefs’ hierarchy and with the players he’s managed to sign so far in preparation for the 2024-2025 campaign.

“He’s thinking like a European coach. He wants what he wants. I think it [getting what he wants] maybe a little bit easier for him to get at Chiefs because it’s not easy to be a coach at Chiefs. I think it’s not so easy for a South African coach to say: ‘No, I want that’ [slamming his hand on the table]

“I hope, and I said in the past, it’s not normal for a team like Chiefs to be seventh or eighth in the competition, itvs not good for South African football. So, I hope Chiefs is again there [at the top] this season and they will fight with [Mamelodi] Sundowns, with [Orlando] Pirates and maybe with SuperSport [United] or Stellenbosch [FC], so that we’ll have five or six teams fighting it out.

“Chiefs becoming competitive is a big progression that can happen for South African football and not the domination by one team [seven-time successive league champions Sundowns] like we’ve had in the past five years.”

Nabi’s impact at Chiefs will be seen only when the Beyway Premiership kicks off on September 14. Amakhosi are away to Marumo Gallants on September 14 before playing Stellenbosch FC at home in the second match.

Left-footed central defender Rushwin Dortley, recently signed from relegated Cape Town Spurs, is the only player from Chiefs that Broos selected for the Group K qualifiers against Uganda at Orlando Stadium on September 6 (6pm) and South Sudan away on September 10.