Hugo Broos bombshell: Why I was ready to quit Bafana after Afcon

Hugo Broos bombshell: Why I was ready to quit Bafana after Afcon

Hugo Broos’ Bafana Bafana recently defied all pre-tournament expectations to progress all the way to the semi-final stage at the Afcon showpiece, eventually settling for a third place finish.

Attention has quickly shifted to whether Hugo Broos will opt to move on, or receive backing to continue in the top job, with Jordaan having made it clear that they want to fully back the veteran coach to continue building on what he has started.

However, recent reports have suggested Broos could be getting ready to move on, with one notable story from overseas publication HLN suggesting Broos has already been approached by Club Brugge.

The Bafana coach has now admitted that he was ready to move on after Afcon.

“I had a conversation with the president – on Saturday, we played the match for third place and on Sunday we were in the hotel and I made an appointment with the president and said ‘look, I’d like to stop’,” he said on the Frank & Franky podcast, as translated into English.

“I think he was lucky that he was sitting down, otherwise he would’ve fallen over. I said, ‘I don’t want to experience the criticism I received here over the last two years again’. Now, everything is good. But in March we have a group of friendlies and if we disappoint, it starts all over again.

“And also, I’m alone in South Africa. My family is here [in Belgium]. I’m not going to do that anymore, two-and-a-half months I was not there. But it’s a lot, especially when you have grandchildren then it’s worse.

“And also the opposition of the league is not to understand,” he added as he went on to describe the struggles he has had with PSL coaches and club bosses.

So what next for Hugo Broos and Bafana Bafana?

It remains to be seen if Broos will be talked into remaining as coach of Bafana Bafana, and he hinted that only certain conditions would make him stick around.

“No I will continue for the time being, but there are a few conditions that need to be met,” he added.

SAFA want the Beglian to stay on

“We want to encourage him to keep on building the team,” said Jordaan before the meeting with Broos. “I think we must all support him because we can see what he has put together…

“Absolutely we want him to stay on (but) we have to fix the issues between him and the PSL.”