By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The SA Football Association (SAFA) president, Danny Jordaan affirmed that the outspoken Hugo Broos will continue to lead the Bafana Bafana ahead of their crucial World Cup qualifiers and the 2025 Afcon in Morocco.
Broos has received deserved acclaim for taking Bafana within a penalty shootout of the Africa Cup of Nations final in the Ivory Coast, and his success has reportedly seen other countries on the continent show interest in his services.
He said he has no plans to leave his post with Bafana Bafana – he is currently contracted until the 2026 Fifa World Cup finals.
Bafana Bafana finished third at the AFCON in the Ivory Coast.
Jordaan spoke at a press conference at O.R Tambo International Airport where South Africans came out in their numbers to welcome the players home.
He said the team that played at AFCON was Broos’ creation and a team the coach believed could win the tournament.
Jordaan announced that Broos would continue at the helm of the national team.
“I want to thank the coach. We started a long journey, and we had many fights with the coach. He doesn’t run away from the fights. He runs towards it.
“He had very strong views, and he was not afraid to express them. In the end, we could see the team shaping, and the team that played was his creation.
“So I want to thank him for not stepping back, being relentless in pursuit of building a team that he thought would win the AFCON,” says Jordaan.
He said Broos had already managed to guide Cameroon to their fifth AFCON title in 2017, a feat SAFA hoped he could repeat with Bafana.
Jordaan also heaped praise on Bafana captain Ronwen Williams, who was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
“He was included in the best Caf XI at the tournament and made captain of that team,” added Jordaan.
“We must celebrate him, he has done something no goalkeeper in history has done, to stop four of the first five penalties in a penalty shootout.
“No one in the Ivory Coast could believe what he did.”
Williams became the first goalkeeper in an official Fifa tournament to save four of the first five penalties in a shootout when he did so in the quarterfinal win over Cape Verde.