The criteria for picking the next Bafana Bafana coach has been clearly defined - only a candidate with “experience in African football competitions” will be given the tough job as the national team looks to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
But just who is out there that is the ideal replacement for Shakes Mashaba, who was sacked on Thursday for disciplinary reasons?
We take a look at five potential successors, but it’s up to the South African Football Association to make the call.
Pitso Mosimane
Probably the favourite in everyone’s eyes and top of the list according to recent reports.
Mosimane has had incredible success since taking over at Mamelodi Sundowns four years ago and this year has been one of the highlights of his career - guiding the Brazilians to another league title in May and clinching the CAF Champions League trophy five months later.
It may be too soon for him to decide he wants to return to the national team set-up
after he was unceremoniously sacked at the Royal Marang Hotel foyer in 2012 and fought a bitter fight to get his pay-out (believed to be in the region of R10 million) for what was deemed unfair dismissal.
Hervé Renard
He won’t come cheap, and with Safa’s financial crisis, he is an unlikely candidate. But if you are looking for someone that oozes confidence and has the formula for qualifying and winning African football competitions, then the Frenchman, who has won the Africa Cup of Nations with Zambia (2012) and Ivory Coast (2015) is the perfect fit.
He is currently in charge of Morocco and will be attempting to win a third continental title at next month’s Afcon in Gabon.
Renard, 48, would then only be available sometime in February, and if he is successful in winning yet another trophy, then Safa will have to break the bank to lure him away.
Gavin Hunt
Obviously there are question marks about his attitude towards CAF club tournaments seeing that he’s never had a decent record while at SuperSport United, where he won three successive Premier League titles, and has opted to field fringe players since arriving at Bidvest Wits whenever they have been involved in continental competitions.
But he will most certainly change his outlook if he’s offered the Bafana job. Who wouldn’t?
Wits are understandably determined to push for the domestic league title this season and Hunt is an important part of that pursuit.
However, it’s unlikely they would stand in his way and he only has six months left on his contract having extended his stay by one more year at the beginning of the 2016-17 campaign.
Florent Ibengé
Along with Mosimane, Ibengé is a nominee for the coach of the year award at the CAF ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria, in January.
He is in a unique position of coaching AS Vita Club in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its national team at the same time - making it a big stumbling block if attempts were to be made to try and attract him away from holding two big jobs in his native
country. He would be worth every penny, though, as he is one of the coaches on the
continent who is rising to stardom and putting in the hard work.
Ibengé will face off with Renard in Group C of the Afcon, which means he, too, can only take over late in February should he be considered.
Earlier this year, Ibengé won a continental title, although it was the less prestigious African Nations Championship.
They all count, though, especially in Africa.
Roger De Sa
Not as high-profile as his counterparts here, but his track record as the man who took
Orlando Pirates all the way to the 2013 CAF Champions League final, only to lose to Egyptian giants Al-Ahly, opens the door for the Bafana job.
De Sa is available immediately, having resigned as Ajax Cape Town coach in October following a string of poor
results.
He knows the culture and mentality of South African players, but does have the disadvantage of not really having achieved much in terms of trophies apart from last season’s MTN8 title with Ajax before things went pear-shaped.
@superjourno