Pitso Mosimane Returns as Head Coach of Bafana Bafana

JOHANNESBURG – Bafana Bafana are going back to a man who knows the seat, the pressure and the expectations all too well. Pitso Mosimane is set to return to the national team dugout, with the South African Football Association (SAFA) approving his appointment as head coach after the departure of Hugo Broos.

The decision, confirmed at a SAFA National Executive Committee meeting, is more than a routine change of guard. It comes on the back of a historic World Cup campaign in which South Africa finally broke through the glass ceiling and reached the knockout rounds of the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the first time, a run lit up by a statement victory over South Korea.

That performance has reset the bar. SAFA’s response is to hand the keys to one of the country’s most decorated and demanding coaches.

The NEC members have thrown their weight behind Mosimane to take charge of a side that has rediscovered its belief on the global stage. The message is clear: this is not a rebuilding job from rubble, but an attempt to turn momentum into something more permanent.

There are still a few administrative details to iron out before the deal is officially sealed, but those are formalities rather than obstacles. An official announcement is expected next week, when Mosimane’s second full spell at the helm will be unveiled.

For Mosimane, this is unfinished business. He first stepped into the Bafana Bafana role as a caretaker in 2007, then took over as head coach from 2010 to 2012. He knows the politics, the pressure, the thin margins between hero and scapegoat in South African football.

Now he returns to a very different landscape: a national team fresh from a World Cup breakthrough and a fan base daring to dream again. The question is no longer whether Bafana Bafana can compete on the biggest stage.

It is what Mosimane can build on top of that new foundation.