Johannesburg – For the first time in the history of South African football, three local coaches pride themselves of having qualified for the knockout stages for pan-African club competitions, Xolile Mtshazo highlights their fortunes.
Pitso Mosimane (Al Ahly)
Not for the first time, Egyptian giants Al Ahly coach Mosimane won the 2016 CAF Champions League with Masandawana four years after joining them in 2012, defeating Egypt’s Zamalek 3-1 on aggregate, making Downs the second South African side to win the honours after Orlando Pirates in 1995.
Under “Jingles”, Al Ahly were crowned 2019/20 CAF Champions League winners after securing a 2-1 win over Zamalek in the final.
Manqoba Mngqithi (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Mngqithi co-coaches the roller-coaster train that is Downs with Rhulani Mokoena and Steve Komphela, but it is evident that he calls the shots in this strange but successful arrangement.
The draw for the Champions League on April 30 opens a potential match-up between Mngqithi’s Ka Bo Yellow and The Reds of Egypt in the knockout round, and if welloiled Sundowns go all the way to win the Champions League, it will be Mngqithi, Mokoena and Komphela’s first continental title as head coaches.
Gavin Hunt (Kaizer Chiefs)
Amakhosi coach Hunt’s masterstroke of taking the Soweto giants to the last eight of the Champions League against all odds has overshadowed their faltering 2020/21 season league campaign.
After finishing second in the PSL last season behind Sundowns in a nail-biting photo finish, Chiefs rewrote the history books by securing a berth in the quarterfinals of Africa’s prestigious club competition for the first time under Hunt, who took over from German Ernst Middendorp.
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