Broos available for Bafana

With six months on his contract, Belgian is keen to discuss offers

BELGIAN coach Hugo Broos has played the ball into the South African Football Association (Safa) court and put his name forward for the vacant Bafana Bafana coaching job.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times from his home town of Bruges, Broos confirmed his interest in a job that has been vacant since Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba’s sacking in December.

Broos, who led the understrength Indomitable Lions of Cameroon to this year’s — January 14-February 5 — Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) glory in Gabon, said he is open to offers from Safa or anyone but that whoever calls him must be serious.

The 64-year-old’s contract with the Cameroon Football Federation, whose country he led to a record fifth African crown, still has six months to run.

Asked for an opinion on Bafana, Broos said he was surprised that the national team still struggles to qualify for major tournaments.

“I know that the team has changed slightly since they changed coaches recently but most of the key players from when we played them last year are still there,” he said.

“I don’t understand why they don’t qualify for tournaments because they have a good team with some of the players based in Europe and elsewhere.

“On the two occasions we played against South Africa last year during the Afcon qualifiers, where we drew 2-2 and 0-0, they played better than us.

“I believe that South Africa have the players who can do better at qualifiers and tournaments and that is an opinion based on what I have seen from them in the past.”

Safa president Danny Jordaan had talks with Broos in Zambia at the Afcon Under-20 last month.

But the talks broke down after Broos’s agent Gino Laureyssen demanded to be paid 20% of his client’s yearly pay for the duration of his five-year contract as Bafana coach.

“If I get a call, I will listen to what they have to say but it must be someone senior who has a mandate from the football association and they are serious about what they are doing,” said Broos.

“It is normal to give people a chance and hear what they have to say because you will never know what proposal they will have for you.

“I am still the coach of Cameroon, I am going back there at the beginning of the [next] month and I will see what happens.

“This is football and anything can happen, but as things stand I am still the coach of Cameroon.”

The fact that Broos still has six months remaining on his contract could pose a problem for under-pressure Safa who are looking for someone to hit the ground running.

Bafana have an important opening 2019 Afcon qualifier against Nigeria in June.

That encounter will be followed by back-to-back 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde in September and one against Burkina Faso in October.

If I get a call I’ll listen to what they say but it must be someone senior