Ntseki ‘must qualify for Afcon and 2022 World Cup’

New Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki has no official mandate agreed on yet‚ acting SA Football Association (Safa) CEO Russell Paul has said.

Paul‚ speaking after Ntseki had just been confirmed in a Safa NEC meeting at Safa House on Saturday as full-time Bafana coach‚ said if there was to be a mandate‚ it would be agreed between the coach and association at a later stage.

Paul did say qualifying for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Cameroon and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar basically went without saying as targets for the new head coach.

“The obvious thing for South African football is that we want to qualify for Afcon 2021‚ and we want to qualify for Afcon 2023‚ and we want to qualify for the World Cup‚” he said.

“Those are the three major issues for SA football. Coupled with that is, we need to have greater success in the Cosafa Cup. Those are the things that have been factored in to a discussion with Ntseki on how we will reach an agreement on the targets for him.”

Ntseki, 50‚ the assistant to Stuart Baxter‚ who resigned on August 2‚ had already been named caretaker Bafana coach for Saturday’s friendly against Zambia in Lusaka.

He now takes charge of that match as full-time head coach.

His head coaching experience includes a stint as the national U17 boss‚ who he steered to a runners-up finish at the 2015 Africa U17 Championship and a group stage exit at the Fifa U17 World Cup that year.

He started as head coach of Motsepe League team Welkom Eagles in 1998‚ and steered them to promotion to the National First Division in 2000.

He was co-founder of the Harmony Academy in the Free State which produced current SuperSport United starlets Teboho Mokoena and Sipho Mbule.

He was also assistant-coach at Bloemfontein Celtic‚ and assistant-coach to Serame Letsoaka’s Amajita, who reached the last16 of the Fifa World Cup in Egypt in 2009. Several players, such as captain Thulani Hlatshwayo and midfielder Kamohelo Mokotjo, now star for Bafana.