The coach of the senior national team of South Africa Hugo Broos says he will leave his role if the team fails to qualify for the 2026 world cup, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
In three years as the coach, Broos has revived the status of South Africa men’s team as a top force in Africa leading them to two consecutive AFCON and also to the semi final for the first time since 2020.
72 year old Broos has seen his team lost just one game this year in open play, and that was the AFCON opener defeat to Mali. His team qualified for the AFCON with two games to spare in a group that has Uganda, South Sudan and Congo.
His next target is the world cup qualifiers which resumes in March. South Africa are currently second in their group behind shock leaders Rwanda on goal difference with Benin Republic also on the same amount of points in third place.
Hot favorites Nigeria are 5th in the six team group, four points behind the aforementioned trio and Broos feels his team is in a position where if they fail to make it to the tournament, then he will quit his role.
“You know I’m not stupid, I knew we would qualify [for AFCON],” he said.
“I said [if we don’t qualify for 2026 World Cup I would leave too], but if you compare the team from two years ago and the team now, there’s a difference of day and night in everything.
“In quality, in power, in results, in whatever you say – there’s a big difference and we worked on it to make this team, it was not easy”, he said.
“Certainly in the beginning, nobody understood what I was doing, young players, no players from Chiefs, what is that? Nothing was good. Now we are where we are, and everyone is proud of Bafana Bafana at the moment,” he concluded.
