The South African Football Association (SAFA) have confirmed that Bafana Bafana head coach Molefi Ntseki has been fired. The decision followed the team’s failure to qualify for AFCON to take place in Cameroon in 2022.

Ntseki stepped out after just nine games in charge. It was in the wake of a disastrous final two matches in qualifying – at home to Ghana and then away to Sudan – from which they got only one point.

Having been held 1-1 in the first game, they still only needed a point away in Sudan. But instead they lost 2-0 and Sudan went through at their expense.

In the aftermath Ntseki admitted that he was “very much aware of the emotional pain we have caused all South Africans.“

Prior to his dismissal, observers have been urging SAFA to appoint the likes of Pitso Mosimane and Benni McCarthy.