Pitso Mosimane

Pitso John Hamilton Mosimane (born 26 July 1964) is a South African former professional football player and is the current manager of Abha. He is the former coach of SuperSport United, Mamelodi Sundowns, Al Ahly, Al Ahli Saudi and Al Wahda.

Pitso Mosimane

Mosimane as head coach of Al Ahly during the FIFA Club World Cup 2020
Personal information
Full name	Pitso John Hamilton Mosimane[1]
Date of birth	(1964-07-26) 26 July 1964 (age 60)
Place of birth	Kagiso, Gauteng, South Africa
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Rockville Hungry Lions
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1982–1984	Jomo Cosmos	27	(7)
1985	Mamelodi Sundowns	19	(1)
1986	Jomo Cosmos	31	(9)
1987	Mamelodi Sundowns	9	(0)
1988	Jomo Cosmos	14	(11)
1989	Orlando Pirates	0	(0)
1989–1995	Ionikos	34	(5)
1995	KFC Rita Berlaar	37	(15)
1996	Al Sadd	12	(0)
Total		179	(48)
International career
1993–1994	South Africa	4	(1)
Managerial career
2001–2007	Supersport United
2006–2010	South Africa (assistant coach)
2010–2012	South Africa
2012–2020	Mamelodi Sundowns
2020–2022	Al Ahly
2022–2023	Al Ahli Jeddah
2023	Al Wahda
2024	Abha
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Born in Kagiso,^[2] Mosimane is one of the longest serving and most decorated coaches in all of South African football, having won multiple major trophies with SuperSport United between 2001 and 2007 and Mamelodi Sundowns between 2012 and 2020.

Club career

Mosimane started his senior career at Jomo Cosmos, then he played for Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, before joining Greek club Ionikos to play under coach Nikos Alefantos. He later joined Belgian team KFC Rita Berlaar and Qatari club Al Sadd.

Coaching career

Mosimane was an assistant coach to the under-11 players during his tenure with the Belgian club KFC Rita Berlaar, then he returned to South Africa to coach Mamelodi Sundowns reserves.^[3]

Supersport United

Mosimane joined Supersport United as an assistant coach to Bruce Grobbelaar, then he became the head coach from 2001 until 2007, where he finished second in 2001–02 and 2002–03 in the Premier Soccer League.

South Africa national team

Mosimane served as the caretaker coach of the South African national team, nicknamed as Bafana Bafana, for seven games in 2007, prior to the appointment of Carlos Alberto Parreira as head coach of the national team, whom Mosimane served as an assistant coach under during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He also served as assistant to Joel Santana during the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, Parreira's successor and later predecessor.

On 15 July 2010, Mosimane was named as the new head coach of South Africa and was handed a four-year contract.^[4] He won his first game in charge in a 1–0 win over World Cup quarter-finalists Ghana. South Africa failed to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations after Mosimane mistakenly played for a draw in the final qualifier against Sierra Leone, when in fact a victory was required.^[5]

Mamelodi Sundowns

In 2012, Mosimane became the manager of Mamelodi Sundowns. He won the 2016 CAF Champions League with Mamelodi Sundowns after defeating Egypt's Zamalek 3–1 on aggregate,^[6] making them the 2nd South African side to win it after Orlando Pirates in 1995.

In December 2016, Mosimane was ranked as the 10th best coach in the world for 2016, according to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics^[7] (IFFHS).

On 5 January 2017, Mosimane won the Coach of the Year accolade at the 2016 Glo-CAF awards in Abuja, Nigeria after guiding Mamelodi Sundowns to league glory in 2015–16 and claiming the Telkom Knockout trophy which meant Mosimane stood alone as the only coach to have made a clean sweep of all domestic trophies in the PSL era.^[8]

On 6 April 2019, Mosimane led his team Mamelodi Sundowns to a 5–0 win against Egyptian club Al Ahly in the 2018–19 CAF Champions League quarter-finals,^[9] in which he won 5–1 on aggregate to reach the semi-finals.

Mosimane is generally regarded as the most successful manager in South African football history, winning five ABSA Premiership titles with Mamelodi Sundowns.^[10] In late September 2020, Mosimane resigned as Mamelodi Sundowns coach.^[11]

Al Ahly

On 30 September 2020, Mosimane was announced to be the head coach of Al Ahly.^[12] He was the first non-Egyptian African to manage the club.^[13]

On 27 November 2020, Mosimane led Al Ahly to their 9th CAF Champions league title, after winning the 2020 final against their rivals Zamalek,^[14] and to qualify to the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup,^[15] where they eventually finished in third place after beating Palmeiras on penalties.^[16] On 6 December 2020, he led Al Ahly to win the Egyptian Cup. In May 2021, he guided the football club to win the African Super Cup against RS Berkane in Doha, Qatar.^[17]

On 17 July 2021, Al Ahly won their second CAF Champions league title under Mosimane and their 10th in total after a 3–0 win over Kaizer Chiefs in the final.^[18] Rory Smith argued that this eight-month tenure, in which Al Ahly won three trophies, made Mosimane one of the best managers in world football for the year.^[13] In December 2021, he won another African Super Cup in Qatar against Raja Casablanca.^[19] On 13 June 2022, Al Ahly accepted Mosimane's request to step down as their manager.^[20]

Al-Ahli Jeddah

On 25 September 2022, Mosimane was appointed as manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli Jeddah.^[21] He left in June 2023 after guiding them to promotion, and had claimed that he and his technical staff had not been paid since January.^[22][23]

Al Wahda

On 18 June 2023, shortly after his departure from Al Ahli Jeddah, Mosimane joined Abu Dhabi side Al Wahda along with his technical staff.^[24][25] Later that year, on 10 November, Al-Wahda announced the terminated of contract with Mosimane by mutual consent.^[26]

Abha

On 26 January 2024, Mosimane joined Saudi Arabia club Abha on a four-month contract which would take him to the end of the season.^[27]

Career statistics

International

Team	Year	Apps	Goals
South Africa	1993	2	1
	1994	2	0
Total		4	1

Managerial statistics

As of match played 13 June 2024

Team	Nation	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
SuperSport United		1 July 2001	30 June 2007	184	83	53	48	045.11
South Africa		November 2006	June 2007	7	3	3	1	042.86
		15 July 2010	5 June 2012	17	6	8	3	035.29
Mamelodi Sundowns		2 December 2012	30 September 2020	332	187	78	67	056.33
Al Ahly		30 September 2020	13 June 2022	97	65	22	10	067.01
Al-Ahli		25 September 2022	13 June 2023	29	19	7	3	065.52
Al Wahda		18 June 2023	10 November 2023	14	8	1	5	057.14
Abha		11 January 2024	Present	15	5	3	7	033.33
Total				693	375	176	142	054.11

Honours and achievements

Player

Ionikos

• Beta Ethniki: 1993–94

Manager

Supersport United

• Nedbank Cup: 2005
• SAA Super Eight Cup: 2004

Mamelodi Sundowns

• Premier Soccer League: 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20
• Nedbank Cup: 2014–15, 2019–20
• Telkom Knockout: 2015, 2019
• CAF Champions League: 2016
• CAF Super Cup: 2017

Al Ahly

• Egypt Cup: 2019–20
• CAF Champions League: 2019–20, 2020–21
• CAF Super Cup: 2021 (May), 2021 (Dec)

Al-Ahli

• Saudi First Division League: 2022–23

Individual

• PSL Coach of the Season: 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20^[28]
• CAF Coach of the Year: 2016
• In August 2024 Mosimane was conferred with an honorary degree by the University of Johannesburg for remarkable contribution to sports and leadership. ^{[29] [30]}

References

1. "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020: Squad list" (PDF). FIFA. 1 February 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
2. "Pitso John Mosimane". South African History Online.
3. "The incredible coaching journey of Pitso Mosimane". magzter.com. February 2020.
4. Edwards, Piers (15 July 2010). "Pitso Mosimane unveiled as new coach of South Africa". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
5. "South Africa miss out on Africa Cup of Nations after misreading rules". Guardian News and Media Limited. Reuters. 9 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
6. "Sundowns crowned African champions". www.enca.com. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
7. Koza, Neo. "Better than Wenger: Pitso Mosimane makes world coaching top 10". Retrieved 7 January 2017.
8. www.realnet.co.uk. "Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane named CAF Coach of the Year". Kick Off. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
9. "By The Numbers: Mamelodi Sundowns 5-0 Al Ahly". Goal.com. 7 April 2019.
10. "Pitso Mosimane looks to break more new ground in Egypt". BBC Sport. 1 October 2020.
11. "EXCLUSIVE: Pitso Mosimane resigns as Sundowns coach, set to join Al Ahly". Times Live. 30 September 2020.
12. "OFFICIAL: Pitso Mosimane appointed Al Ahly head coach". Kingfut.com. 30 September 2020.
13. Smith, Rory (16 January 2022). "When Two Champions Leagues Titles in Eight Months Don't Count". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
14. "Pitso: South Africa has lot of respect for Al Ahly, half of Sundowns fans support the Reds". kingfut.com. 28 November 2020.
15. "Club World Cup: Al Ahly's 'Chosen One' coach draws strength from Nelson Mandela". CNN. 3 February 2021.
16. "Al Ahly beat Palmira's to clinch third place at Club World Cup". BBC Sport. 11 February 2021.
17. "Al Ahly v RSB Berkane Match Report, 5/28/21, CAF Super Cup | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
18. "Egypt's Al Ahly beat Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 to win record tenth African crown". BBC Sport. 18 July 2021.
19. "Late drama as Al Ahly lift CAF Super Cup for eighth time in history". kingfut.com. 22 December 2021.
20. "Al Ahly and Mosimane Agree to Part Ways". Al Ahly. 13 June 2022.
21. "OFFICIAL: Pitso Mosimane announced as Al Ahli Jeddah's head coach". kingfut.com. 25 September 2022.
22. "Pitso Mosimane leaves Al Ahli". SABC News. 13 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
23. "Will Pitso Mosimane end up at Kaizer Chiefs? Ex-Bafana coach leaves Al Ahli". MSN. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
24. "Bye Saudi, hello UAE! Pitso Mosimane lands head coach role with Al Wahda". news24. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
25. Mahlatse Mphahlele. "Pitso Mosimane joins UAE side Al Wahda". timeslive. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
26. "Mosimane parts ways with Al-Wahda after four months". TimesLIVE. 10 November 2023.
27. "Pitso Mosimane takes on new challenge in Saudi Arabia". FARPost. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
28. "Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane wins PSL Manager of the Season Award". kingfut.com. 22 October 2020.
29. https://www.timeslive.co.za/sport/soccer/2024-07-24-watch-pitsos-african-coaching-luminary-colleagues-attend-honouring-at-uj/ ^{[bare URL]}
30. https://supersport.com/football/general/news/a1429f0a-d1ad-4f05-8dad-0de2b2f2d270/pitso-mosimane-receives-honourary-doctorate-from-the-university-of-johannesburg ^{[bare URL]}

External links

• Official website
• Pitso Mosimane coach profile at Soccerway
• Pitso Mosimane coach profile at National-Football-Teams.com