Young Africans SC head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has responded to reports linking him to the Bafana Bafana head coaching job.
Mngqithi’s name has been among those circulating in the media as possible replacements of the outgoing Hugo Broos. The Belgian took over the team in 2021 and led them two back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and finished third in the 2023 edition in Ivory Coast.
Under Broos, Bafana also qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after 16 years where they were eliminated in the second round, however the team’s highest finish at the global show piece in their history. Broos has said he will leave his post as head coach though the FA has a different version.
Mngqithi was asked about the link on #GameOn on Radio 2000 with Thabiso Mosia where he said jobs like this one potential candidate cannot nominate themselves while adding it’s time for a local to take over.
“Nothing has been said to me and those positions you don’t put yourself in them,” said the former Mamelodi Sundowns and Golden Arrows coach.
“People, if they feel you are good enough, because people make their own assumptions about you as a coach, and if they feel I’m not ready, I will accept. If they feel I’m ready, I will accept. But the reality is those positions you never have to fight for.
“It’s positions that must bring themselves to you, not you going all out to say, ‘Hey, I want the job. I want the job’ because it is unfair to everybody else that might be deserving of getting the job. Because there are so many good coaches out there. There is Coach Pitso [Mosimane] he is not working currently, and he deserves that opportunity.
“There is so many other coaches that qualify for the position of leading Bafana Bafana. So let the reality unfold. If Pitso has to take the job, he must take the job. Whoever that is chosen to take the job, he must take the job. But it’s high time that we trust our own.”
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