Rulani Mokwena makes perfect start as Pyramids FC boss in Egypt

Rulani Mokwena has won all 12 of his matches since taking charge of Pyramids FC in July, making an unbeaten start across the Egyptian Premier League, Caf Champions League and Egyptian Cup.

The 39-year-old’s latest move follows a turbulent period since he left Mamelodi Sundowns in July 2024, during which he worked in Morocco, Algeria and Libya. His early success at Pyramids suggests he may have found a club with the ambition, financial resources and stability to match his own.

Mokwena joined Wydad Athletic after leaving Sundowns, but the Moroccan club was facing a financial crisis. He lifted them from sixth place in the previous season’s Botola to the top three, although he failed to win over the club’s demanding supporters and was frozen out before Wydad secured third place in May.

He then took charge of MC Alger and was leading Algeria’s Ligue Professionnelle 1 when he left in March, reportedly after disagreements over recruitment and his level of autonomy. He also had a lucrative offer from Libya’s Al-Ittihad SC. MC Alger won the league title two months after his departure.

Mokwena’s four-month spell at Ittihad began well, but the team collapsed in the championship play-offs, failed to qualify for the Caf Champions League and lost the Libyan Cup final.

Despite those setbacks, Mokwena remains one of football’s most highly regarded young coaches. He achieved notable trophy success with Sundowns and has not outright failed at any of the major North African clubs he has managed.

Pyramids, founded in 2008 and operating under their current name since 2018, are a relatively young force in Egyptian and African football. They have finished as Egyptian Premier League runners-up for the past five seasons and won the 2024-25 Caf Champions League, with Democratic Republic of the Congo striker Fiston Mayele scoring the goals that helped them beat Sundowns in the final. The club, backed by Emirati investor Salem Al-Shamsi, have also won three Egyptian Cups.

Working alongside South African assistants Wendell Robinson and Sinethemba Badela, Mokwena has won seven league matches, four Champions League games and one Egyptian Cup tie. Those results have put Pyramids top of the Egyptian Premier League and into the Champions League group stage.

Mokwena followed his former Sundowns mentor Pitso Mosimane into Egyptian football. Mosimane, now Bafana Bafana coach, led Al Ahly successfully from October 2020 to June 2022.

Asked by the South African Football Journalists’ Association what attracted him to Pyramids, Mokwena said: “I don’t know if I was excited or convinced more by the recent results of the club.”

He added: “They knew a lot about me because they had followed me for a very long time. And it’s a very good club. When I met some of the people who run the club a few times, the ambition, the objectives they set out for the club, these are things where you get a feeling this is the type of environment you want to be part of.

“You want to be stimulated, you want to grow, you want to challenge yourself in a space with some of the best teams. Even in the Egyptian league, there are two other big clubs [Al Ahly and Zamalek] who are always dominating the space and fighting for trophies.”

Mokwena said he wanted to experience different leagues, cultures and footballing environments before taking a sabbatical, and described Pyramids as an opportunity that arrived at the right time.

He also said leaving Libya had been difficult because he and his staff had been committed to the Ittihad project after being persuaded to leave MC Alger, where they were champions 20 matches into the season.

Mokwena rejected negative accounts of Algeria, saying his experience there had included an “incredible league”, the Ali La Pointe Stadium in Algiers, football passion and culture. He also praised the technical quality of Algerian Francophone players with dual passports who had developed in French academies including St Etienne, Lyon and Lille.

Coaching spells at Pyramids can be short, with about 20 managers having come and gone since 2018. That trend has improved recently, however, with Mokwena’s predecessor Krunoslav Jurcic lasting almost two-and-a-half years after winning the Champions League.

Mokwena will next face Al Ahly in a league Cairo derby on November 23.

“On the Cairo derby, look, we are excited. I think the level of pressure that comes from that, I would say fortunately I’ve been marinated in pressure,” he said.

“The pressure from the Wydad fans is something you would not believe. You have to play the Casablanca derby ― there’s a lot of pressure. Wydad and Raja are great foes; they are just separated by a streetlamp. The Raja training facility is separated by one road from that of Wydad.”