It was the 64-year-old’s 400th game as a coach in the Premier Soccer League as his return to the coaching bench with Swallows in December marked his 15th season in South African football.
Middendorp first came to the country after working in Ghana, to coach Kaizer Chiefs where he won his only titles in the Absa Cup and Top Eight, both in 2006.
After Chiefs, he went back to the Bundesliga to Arminia Bielefeld, where he is a club icon and has been named as their ‘coach of the century’.
But his last spell at Bielefeld ended unimpressively and he has since led a journeyman coaching career in South Africa, interspersed with spells in Cyprus, Ethiopia and Thailand, His local clubs have been Maritzburg United (four separate spells), Lamontville Golden Arrows, Bloemfontein Celtic, Chippa United, Free State Stars and Swallows.
His second spell at Chiefs, as an emergency replacement for the hapless Giovani Solinas, saw him take Chiefs to within one point of the title but they blew a massive lead in the 2019-20 campaign to allow Mamelodi Sundowns to usurp them on the last day.
He had also lost the Nedbank Cup final the previous season to second-division TS Galaxy.
In his 400 PSL games, Middendorp has 136 wins and 139 defeats.
