Jali’s Oostende exit came weeks after Broos took sporting director role

Andile Jali’s time at KV Oostende came to an abrupt end in April 2018, little more than a month after Hugo Broos was appointed the Belgian club’s sporting director.

The timing may have been coincidental, but it marked the first known meeting between Jali and Broos, whose relationship would later become a significant talking point in South African football.

The two men are now widely understood not to hold each other in high regard. Broos publicly stated in 2022 that he had no intention of selecting Jali for his Bafana Bafana squads.

Jali subsequently said in interviews that he had never understood why Broos left him out of the national team, particularly because he believed he was performing well around the time the Belgian coach took charge.

Despite their later disagreement over the midfielder’s international prospects, their first encounter came at Oostende, where Broos began work as sporting director in March 2018. The appointment came while Jali was still contracted to the club.

Broos immediately made it clear that reducing the size of the squad would be one of his main priorities. Oostende had 31 players, and the new sporting director wanted to reshape the group and remove those he believed were not capable of helping the club compete for Play-off 1.

Just over a month after Broos took up the position, Jali became the first player to leave Oostende. His departure came in April, two months before his contract was scheduled to expire.

There is no stated evidence in the account that Broos personally ordered Jali’s exit, but the timing has continued to attract attention because it followed so soon after the Belgian’s arrival and his stated intention to overhaul the squad.

Broos explained his approach to Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws at the time, saying the club could not afford to retain a large group of players who were unlikely to feature regularly.

“I want to get down to 25: 22 outfield players and 3 goalkeepers. There is also too much dead weight in those 31 – players who are of no use, who are not good enough to compete for Play-off 1.

“If I keep them, we will be paying seven or eight players for a year to sit on the bench or in the stands.”

Jali’s departure from Oostende therefore preceded the later dispute over his Bafana Bafana involvement. When Broos became the national team coach, the midfielder’s omission from his squads prompted questions, especially given Jali’s view that his club form had been strong during that period.

Broos, however, maintained his position and did not select Jali. In 2022, he made his stance public by saying that he had no intention of calling the player up.

The events in Belgium in 2018 provide the earliest chapter in the relationship between the two football figures. Jali left Oostende soon after Broos took over, and their professional paths later crossed again in the much more visible setting of South Africa’s national team.