Pitso Mosimane Returns to Bafana Bafana as New Coach After World Cup Success

JOHANNESBURG – Pitso Mosimane is heading back to the Bafana Bafana hot seat, this time as the man trusted to build on South Africa’s World Cup rebirth.

The South African Football Association (SAFA) has approved Mosimane’s appointment as the new national team coach following the exit of Hugo Broos, clearing the way for one of the country’s most decorated coaches to return to the dugout he first occupied more than a decade ago.

The decision was ratified at a SAFA National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, where members threw their weight behind Mosimane to take over a side that has just rewritten a key chapter of its history at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

This is not a rescue mission. It is a continuation.

South Africa reached the knockout rounds for the first time at a World Cup, a landmark run lit up by a standout victory over South Korea. That result, and the composure Bafana showed on the global stage, have shifted expectations around what this team should be aiming for.

Now comes the next step: turning a breakthrough into a standard.

SAFA has indicated that a few administrative details still need to be ironed out before Mosimane’s return is made official, but the framework is in place and an announcement is expected next week. The timing underlines the urgency – and the opportunity. Momentum like this does not wait.

For Mosimane, it marks a full-circle moment. He first took charge of Bafana in a caretaker capacity in 2007, then held the job from 2010 to 2012, navigating the pressure of leading a football‑obsessed nation still searching for a consistent identity on the pitch.

This time, he walks into a very different dressing room: one that has tasted the knockout rounds of a World Cup and beaten a respected Asian powerhouse on the way there.

The question now is not whether South Africa can compete.

It is how far Mosimane can push them.