It is without doubt that Pitso Mosimane is one of the greatest football coaches ever to arise in Africa. And with all his successes at hand, being named Africa’s greatest coach, and in 2021, the best perfoming coach in world football for that year fter securing 3 Trophy wins for Al Ahly. His life doesn’t come without some stories behind. So, this is the unspoken story of football legend Pitso Mosimane. Africa’s greatest coach to date.
The early life of Pitso Mosimane
Pitso John Hamilton Mosimane was born on the 26th of July in 1964, meaning he is at least 68 and turning 69 years old as of 2023 by July. He was born in Kagiso, Gauteng, in South Africa. As far as the research goes, not much information into his childhood survives to date, neither any information on his parents, or siblings. However, it is said that Pitso was destined to be a soccer player. Apparently he starred playing football from a very early age and would participate in local clubs too. [1]
Early football and coaching career of Pitso Mosimane
Well, you may think that things started out at the top for Pitso, but you would be utterly wrong. Before joining the Greek club Ionikos to play under coach Nikos Alefantos, Mosimane began his professional career at Jomo Cosmos. Jomo Cosmos was a very local club in South Africa however, a lot of famous players came from it, including Mosimane himself. He then played for Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates. Not knowing that he would later coach one of them. Later, he joined the Qatari club Al Sadd and the Belgian team KFC Rita Berlaar. Pitso spent some time in Belgium and it is there that he began his coaching career according to official records. He started by coaching the under eleven players for the Belgian KFC Rita Berlaar team. And it was during this time that Pitso Mosimane the player was done away with and Pitso Mosimane the coach and manager was born. After coaching the Belgian youngsters team, Pitso returned to South Africa to look for bigger opportunities. However, he only found himself coaching the Mamelodi Sundowns reserves. Which was a step closer to bigger things. After coaching the reserves, his coaching abilities were noticed and he was invited to join the PSL Supersport united team as Coach Grobbelar’s assistant coach. At this point, nothing was going to dim Mosimane’s light, because in 2001 he was invited to become the head coach of Supersport united and his skills showed in the improved performance of the team. Even though the team didn’t win an trophies in the PSL during that tenure, he was able to lead them to second place in 2001 to 2002 and 2002 to 2003’s PSL. His tenure at Supersport united lasted for 7 years.
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Road to Coaching the national team of Pitso Mosimane
After his contract supposedly ended at Supersport united, he was invited to be the caretaker of the national football team of South Africa known by its nickname Bafana Bafana. He held this position for seven games in 2007 before Carlos Alberto Parreira was announced as the head coach for Bafana Bafana. However, Carlos didn’t last that long in that position as he was removed as head coach in 2010.
In the year that Carlos was dethroned, Mosimane had been working alongside him as his assistant coach after he got promoted into that position between 2009’s FIFA confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA world cup. After Carlos was removed from his position, Mosimane won his first game against Ghana in the 2010 FIFA world cup quarterfinals with a score of 1 to zero. However, this success was short lived after Mosimane blundered in aiming for a draw in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier games when a victory was actually required. Leading South Africa to not qualifying in the 2012 AFCON league. [2]
Greatest Coach in South African Football
Mosimane took over as Mamelodi Sundowns’ manager in 2012. following defeating Egypt’s Zamalek 3-1 on aggregate, he and Mamelodi Sundowns won the 2016 CAF Champions League, becoming the second South African team to accomplish so following Orlando Pirates in 1995.
In December 2016, the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) named Mosimane as the tenth greatest coach in the world for 2016.
After leading Mamelodi Sundowns to league supremacy in 2015–16 and winning the Telkom Knockout trophy, Mosimane was named Coach of the Year at the 2016 Glo-CAF awards in Abuja, Nigeria, on January 5, 2017. Mosimane was the only coach to sweep all domestic trophies during the PSL era.
In the quarterfinals of the 2018–19 CAF Champions League on April 6, 2019, Mosimane guided Mamelodi Sundowns to a 5-0 victory over Egyptian club Al Ahly, advancing his team 5-1 overall and into the semifinals. [3]
Coaching Al Ahly
Mosimane was introduced as Al Ahly’s head coach on September 30, 2020. He was the club’s first non-Egyptian-born African manager.
Al Ahly won their ninth CAF Champions League title on November 27, 2020, defeating Zamalek in the final and qualifying for the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup[15], where they ultimately placed third after defeating Palmeiras on penalties. He helped Al Ahly win the Egyptian Cup on December 6, 2020. He led the soccer team to victory over RS Berkane in the African Super Cup in Doha, Qatar, in May 2021.
After defeating Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 in the championship game on July 17, 2021, Al Ahly won their second CAF Champions league championship under Mosimane and their 10th overall. According to Rory Smith, Mosimane became one of the top managers in world football for the year during this eight-month stint, during which Al Ahly won three titles. He defeated Raja Casablanca to win the African Super Cup again in December 2021 in Qatar.
Early Resignation from Al Ahly
After spending only about 2 years with Al Ahly. Pitso Mosimane decided to resign from being the team’s Al Ahly agreed to Mosimane’s request to resign as their manager on June 13, 2022. According to the president of Al Ahly, Mosimane resigned mid term after losing a match in the CAF league citing that he was tired physically and psychologically. It seems like the Egyptian giants put a lot of pressure on him. Mosimane was going through a lot of training all over Africa to ensure Al Ahly had the best coaching and all this was becoming too much for him. So, he decided to resign. After his resignation, he joined the Saudi Arabian team of Al Ahli as its manager. This is currently his post.
