THE SEARCH for a new Bafana Bafana head coach will begin in earnest when SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan returns from his duties at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament currently being played in Gabon.
Jordaan is an adviser to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Issa Hayatou.
Safa is ready to replace Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba, who was fired in December after a lengthy disciplinary hearing.
However, Mashaba’s legal team have told Safa to halt the process until his dismissal case can be heard by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
Safa is, however, going ahead with its search for a new national head coach.
The Safa technical committee met at the weekend and chairwoman Natasha Tsichlas said all the principles for appointing a new coach were in place.
Said Tsichlas: “We will start the process of drawing up a shortlist of potential credible coaches when the president (Jordaan) returns from Afcon in Gabon.”
Afcon ends in Libreville where the final will be played on 5 February. Jordaan will be back in Joburg the following day.
Tsichlas, Jordaan and Safa CEO Dennis Mumble will be part of the selection committee. However, Tsichlas confirmed no coach had been contacted or approached.
Said Tsichlas: “We have not discussed any names of a possible future national coach. We can’t do anything until the president returns from Afcon.”
Possible candidates who been mentioned as replacement for Mashaba include former Bafana mentor Carlos Queiroz, Uganda coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic, Mamelodi Sundowns’ Pitso Mosimane and Gavin Hunt of Bidvest Wits.
Tsichlas said that while no deadline had been set for the appointment of a new coach, Safa hoped to get a new man in place “sooner rather than later” with Bafana’s first 2019 Afcon qualifier scheduled for June.
Bafana are drawn in a qualifying group that includes old foes Nigeria, Libya and Seychelles.
