The much-anticipated announcement of Bafana Bafana assistant coach will take place later on Friday. This was confirmed by Safa CEO, Tebogo Motlanthe at a media briefing held at the Safa headquarters in Nasrec.
South African U23 Coach David Notoane and SAU20 Coach Helman Mkhalele are expected to be announced as the two local assistant coaches to Broos.
The appointment of the Bafana assistant has been a topic of much speculation since the announcement of Hugo Broos as the new senior national team coach, with rumours that former Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki would make a surprise come back into the national team setup as the assistant coach.
The rumours seemed to have been verified last week Friday when Broos announced on SAfm that Ntseki would be back on the bench. However, immediately following that announcement, Safa distanced themselves from that appointment, stating Ntseki would not be the assistant coach.
Speaking to the media on Friday morning, Chairperson of the Safa Technical Committee, Jack Maluleka sought to explain the process of appointing the assistant coach of the senior national team.
“I just want to clear the issue of the assistant coach. The technical committee will only recommend to the NEC. It is then upon the coach to say these are the people I want to work with. The head coach made his recommendation. We don’t interfere in that space. There is nothing sinister,” says Maluleka.
“The coach has been given the thumps to make sure he recommends his people. I was informed that the coach will, this afternoon, announce his assistant coach. From our side, that is what we wanted to bring.”
Maluleka’s comments follow claims that the SAFA Technical Committee has been pushing the issue Ntseki’s retention within the national team setup.
SAFA has confirmed that they had in fact recommended Molefi Ntseki to Hugo Broos as a potential assistant coach. “The name of Molefi Ntseki was on that list,” admits Motlanthe adding “But the matter is closed now.”
#SAFA have confirmed that they had IN FACT recommended #MolefiNtseki to #HugoBroos as a potential assistant coach. “The name of Molefi Ntseki was on that list,” says Montlanthe. “But the matter is closed now.” #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/l8rZjUyRzC
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) May 21, 2021
Appointment of COO
SAFA has also announced the appointment of former Banyana Banyana players, Lydia Monyepao as the Chief Operations Officer, due to commence with her new duties on the 15 of June.
Monyepao was one of the shortlisted candidates for the position of the Safa CEO, to which Motlanthe was eventually appointed.
#SAFA have corrected the date of commencement of COO duties for newly-appointed @LydiaMonyepao . Earlier, Motlanthe had said Monyepao would start in hew new role on the 15th of February. This has been corrected to 15th of June. #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/8jiF0RRZUR
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) May 21, 2021
