After the announcement of the new Bafana Bafana coach was postponed, here are the five names believed to be on the SAFA shortlist, including two South African candidates.
Former Portugal, Real Madrid and Iran coach, Carlos Queiroz was understood to be the frontrunner for the role but iDiski Times understands that he is not immediately available for the position.
The technical committee has shortlisted five names and presented them at a National Executive Committee meeting in Johannesburg this past weekend.
On Friday already, SAFA informed the media that they wouldn’t announce the new coach as originally planned on Saturday (24 April), citing global travel issues around Covid-19 as one of the reasons.
However, iDiski Times has learned that Queiroz still has some unresolved issues with his former employers, the Colombia Football Association.
This publication understands that four other candidates and Queiroz were presented to the NEC, namely: Pitso Mosimane, Herve Renard, Hugo Broos and Benni McCarthy after SAFA had received around 200 applications for the vacant job.
“What the NEC emphasized to the CEO was that he must work hard to expedite this issue, finalise this process of the new coach in the next coming few days, so that we wrap up everything because we want to announce the new coach this week,” stated an iDiski source with intimate knowledge of this process.
“Every outstanding paperwork, let’s just tie it up. That was a mandate from the NEC this past weekend. I’m talking about wrapping up an outstanding issue with a person you have spoken to already and having started engaging with us. You tie up everything with a candidate you think is the one who meets all the criteria.”
It remains to be seen whether SAFA could explore going with a caretaker coach for the upcoming two FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June to give Queiroz more time to sort out his issues or whether they will move on with one of the other candidates.
A decision is expected sometime this week and iDiski Times will keep you updated with all the latest developments.
Story by iDiski Times senior writer Velile Mnyandu. Follow him on twitter under @Velile_Mnyandu.
