Mosimane on brink of elite group of coaches

CAIRO — Pitso Mosimane is one game away from joining an elite group of coaches who have won a second African Champions League.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns coach, who took the Pretoria club to Champions League success in 2016, leads Al Ahly of Egypt into last season’s delayed final tomorrow when they take on arch rivals Zamalek.

It is another chapter in the oldest rivalry in African football, but the first time the two Cairo giants take on each other to decide the top prize on the continent.

Not many coaches have managed repeat success in the competition.

Portuguese coach Manuel Jose, one of Mosimane’s predecessors, holds the unique distinction of four different African Champions League crowns, taking Al Ahly to the title in 2001, 2005, 2006 and 2008. His first victory came at the expense of Sundowns in the final when Ted Dumitru was coach of the South African club.

Mahmoud Al Gohary won the title with both Al Ahly (1982) and Zamalek (1993) while the last two Champions League title were won by Esperance under the guidance of Mouine Chabaane.

The other double winners were Céleste Tambwe, who led TP Mazembe Englebert of the then Congo Kinshasa to back-to-back triumphs in 1966 and 1967 and the Argentine Oscar Fullone, who also won back-to-back titles but with different clubs.

Fullone, who later coached at Sundowns and passed away three years ago, won with ASEC Abisjan of the Ivory Coast in 1998 and Morocco’s Raja Casablanca a year later.

Boubacar Fofana won twice with Hafia Conakry of Guinea and the Polish coach Stefan Zywotko with JS Kabylie of Algeria in 1981 and 1990.