Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is leaving the SA senior national team after five successful years, where he led the team to a historic knockout stage finish in the recently concluded 2026 Fifa World Cup.
Broos confirmed his departure via a heartfelt, WhatsApp farewell message to the players and the staffers that he worked with during his tenure. He said that he wants to spend more time with his family in Belgium. Sunday World has seen the WhatsApp message.
On Friday, Safa will hold a press conference to announce the way forward with Broos’ contract with the SA Football Association and the national team ending on 31 July.
Broos and Safa will be parting ways after the Belgian entrenched himself as the most successful coach in the history of Safa and Bafana. Broos’ steadfast coaching methods resulted in SA qualifying for back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and getting a bronze medal in the 2023 edition.
When he took the job in May 2021, Broos explained that his mandate was to take South Africa to a Fifa World Cup and after that, he mentioned that he would retire. After the World Cup, Broos is understood to have been offered a contract extension for a year – that extension would have kept him in charge until the 2027 Afcon to be co-hosted by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Before the World Cup, Broos mentioned in media interviews that he intended to retire from coaching, citing his age and his desire to spend more time with his grandchildren and his family back in Belgium.
Reads Broos’ message: “With pain in my heart, I will not extend my contract as coach from Bafana Bafana (sic). My long absence from my family and the many lonely moments in South Africa have led me to make this difficult decision. We started five years ago a near-mission impossible. Through hard work, discipline, mentality, and quality, our results kept getting better with a historical second round on World Cup 2026 a month ago. I want to thank you for believing in me as a coach, for the fantastic atmosphere you created in the team. Our relationship was more than a coach-player relationship. I will never forget you. Thank You for everything
Coach Hugo.
- Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is leaving the SA senior national team after five successful years, where he led the team to a historic knockout stage finish in the recently concluded 2026 Fifa World Cup.
- Broos confirmed his departure via a heartfelt, WhatsApp farewell message to the players and the staffers that he worked with during his tenure.
- He said that he wants to spend more time with his family in Belgium. Sunday World has seen the WhatsApp message.
- On Friday, Safa will hold a press conference to announce the way forward with Broos’ contract with the SA Football Association and the national team ending on 31 July.
- Broos and Safa will be parting ways after the Belgian entrenched himself as the most successful coach in the history of Safa and Bafana.
