Bafana Bafanaassistant coach Helman Mkhaleleis excited about upgrading his coaching badges, saying it has “refreshed and revived” him. Last month Mkhalele, who currently holds a Safa Level 1 badge, enrolled for a CAF A licence through the Lesotho Football Association. “It’s been exciting being in the classroom again.
I have been trying for a long time to enrol, but it didn’t happen for various reasons, so now this is a very exciting moment for me. “I have absorbed a lot of new information about the current football trends… and you get refreshed and you get revived,” he said at the World Cup draw viewing event, organised by one of Bafana’s sponsors, Castle, at The Playground in Braamfontein last week.
“It [upgrading his badges] is something I have been dying to do, so I am really happy to be studying again even though I had a slow start because I had been out of the classroom for a very long time.” I have been trying for a long time to enrol, but it didn’t happen for various reasons, so now this is a very exciting moment for me. Mkhalele, who was part of the Bafana squad that won the country its only Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title back in 1996, is currently in camp with the national team at Tuks High Performance Centre in Tshwane, gearing up for the upcoming continental showpiece, to be hosted in Morocco from December 21 to January 18 2026. Bafana coach Hugo Broos has already endorsed Mkhalele as his potential successor when he steps down after next year’s World Cup, albeit he expressed concern over his assistant’s lack of top-tier coaching qualifications.
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On the other hand, Mkhalele has high hopes that Bafana, who won bronze at the last Afcon in Ivory Coast last year, will do well in Morocco. SA are in Group B with Angola, Egypt and neighbours Zimbabwe. Bafana’s first game is against Angola in Marrakech on December 22.
“We have the right mentality, and we will stick to our game plan. We will play with confidence, [and] then we believe that in applying that we will get results better than the previous Afcon,” Mkhalele said. Bafana were drawn in Group A against Mexico, South Korea and the winner of the European playoff between Denmark vs North Macedonia and Czech Republic vs Ireland (with the two winners playing for the final spot) when the World Cup draw was conducted in Washington DC on Friday last week.
The global spectacle will be co-hosted by Mexico, the USA and Canada from June 11 to July 19 next year. In what will be a rematch of the 2010 World Cup opener, Bafana and Mexico will get the tournament underway on June 11 in Mexico City.
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