Baloyi says AFCON 2027 title target would be unfair on incoming Bafana coach

Brian Baloyi says it would be “too much to ask” for Pitso Mosimane to be instructed to win the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) after taking charge of South Africa.

South Africa have qualified for consecutive AFCON tournaments and ended a 16-year wait to appear at the FIFA World Cup. Those achievements have led many supporters to expect Bafana Bafana to challenge for the continental title in 2027.

But Baloyi, one of South Africa’s most respected former footballers, believes Mosimane should not be given an immediate gold-medal mandate when he succeeds Hugo Broos.

Mosimane is expected to be officially announced as the new Bafana coach this week. Broos’ five-year spell in charge ended on 31 July.

“Winning the 2027 AFCON would be too much to ask for. For me, I’d say there is no way that the new coach will be able to build on what coach Hugo Broos has left. The question is, what has he left? What did he build? Yes, he was winning, but what system would you say he built and left behind?” asked Baloyi, a Hollywoodbets ambassador, in an exclusive interview with IOL Sports.

Baloyi said Broos’ results should be recognised, but argued that the Belgian had not left behind a clear footballing structure for his successor to continue.

“When we talk about building, we must be talking about building the system in a way that whoever comes in will have that to work with. From my understanding at this stage, whoever comes in will have to start from scratch.”

Broos departs with a developing squad that has already qualified for two AFCON tournaments and reached the knockout stage of the World Cup. Many of those players are young enough to remain at the highest level for more than a decade.

However, Baloyi, who is also known by the nickname “Spydaman”, believes the absence of a shared national approach remains a major concern.

“So we will be demanding that the new coach builds on his (Broos’s) success, but there is no system or even playing style that they are building upon. They are going to start from scratch building their own philosophy, and that is one of the greatest problems we have in South Africa.

“We can see it even from the clubs there is no trusted playing philosophy. Every coach that comes in has to introduce their own. For me, the main thing is that whoever comes in as the national coach must be someone who is going to leave a legacy. Not only concentrate on the national team, but also build coaches from grassroots to assist in building a national playing philosophy.”

The issue has been debated in South Africa for many years. Previous attempts to create greater coaching alignment included Vision 2022, under which the Bafana coach was intended to work alongside an Under-23 coach, who would be supported by an Under-20 mentor and then an Under-17 coach.

Baloyi says those efforts did not resolve what he considers the country’s central development problem.

“Right now in South Africa, it is a free-for-all. We have hundreds and hundreds of academies. Someone will come and say, ‘I love English football, I’m going to form my academy and teach English football.’ Someone else comes and says, ‘Eish, I love German football,’ and they teach German football and so on hence the free-for-all,” said Baloyi.

“Our kids are playing all these different styles, but we need a technical director who is going to come in and say, ‘You are not allowed to come in and teach your own thing. This is how children are taught to play football in this country. This is how kids get developed,’ so that everyone who comes through and gets to the national team, and when they leave, the new coach will build from that.”

The SAFA National Executive Committee backed Mosimane at the weekend, although negotiations over his salary reportedly created a standoff. He was said to have been offered R5 million per year, while his representatives wanted a package closer to the R16.8 million annual salary paid to Broos.

Mosimane’s first competitive task will be to prepare Bafana Bafana for AFCON qualifiers against Guinea and Eritrea, which begin in September.

The expanded international window running from September into October will also give South Africa the opportunity to arrange at least one or two international friendly matches.

Mosimane was pictured with SAFA president Danny Jordaan at the launch of his Youth Football Coaching Manual.