South Africans to coach two former African club champions

South Africans Rulani Mokwena and Eric Tinkler will coach former African club champions Pyramids of Egypt and Asante Kotoko of Ghana respectively for the 2026-27 season, it was confirmed on Saturday.

Mokwena has had mixed fortunes with other north African teams since leaving Pretoria outfit Mamelodi Sundowns in 2024.

He flopped at Wydad Casablanca of Morocco, left Mouloudia Alger of Algeria just before they won the national league, then failed again with Al Ittihad of Libya.

His main target at Wydad and Ittihad was qualifying for the CAF Champions League, the elite African club competition, but he failed with both teams.

The 39-year-old succeeds Croat Krunoslav Jurcic at 2024-25 African champions Pyramids. His chief objectives will be to win the Champions League again and the Egypt Premier League for the first time.

Tinkler, 55, was a combative midfielder in the South Africa team that won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, the sole major post-apartheid success by the senior national team.

He came closest to achieving success in Africa as a coach by finishing CAF Confederation Cup runners-up with Orlando Pirates in 2015 and SuperSport United two years later.

Pirates are among six top-flight clubs he has coached. He left Sekhukhune United as the 2025-26 South African season drew to a close.

Kotoko won the Champions League – then called the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1970 and 1983 – and hold an unwanted record of being losing finalists five times.

Known as the Porcupines, Kotoko failed to qualify for Africa next season after finishing eighth, 13 points behind champions Medeama.

Last weekend, another South African Manqoba Mngqithi took over at Tanzanian champions Young Africans.

The leading domestic rivals of Young Africans are Simba, and they are coached by a South African Steve Barker.

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