The coach of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) Molefi Ntseki said he’s optimistic that the team assembled to represent the country at this year’s tournament is the best and will make the country proud.
He said most of the players are the ones who he started the journey with when he was appointed to lead the team and helped the team to qualify for the continental tournament.
The 2025 CHAN will be held next month in East Africa in three countries, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
Molefi was addressing the media in Johannesburg, after the South African Football Association (SAFA) confirmed that he will lead the team to the tournament.
“We just want to take this opportunity to thank the SAFA Technical Committee for giving us the opportunity to lead this team in the Chan tournament.
We have assembled a team that will represent South Africa in the CHAN tournament,” said Ntseki.
The former Bafana Bafana coach also thanked teams who released players to represent the country.
This as most of them are on their pre-season camps ahead of the resumption of the Betway Premiership next month, and reluctant to release the players.
“We are in Group C and the team that we have selected is mostly composed of the players we started this journey with.
So, we are looking forward to the tournament and to do our best.
We just want to say thanks to the clubs and to the coaches who managed to release players for our CHAN team to have a good squad going into the tournament,” explained Ntseki.
Most of the players in the squad are without clubs, after they were released following the conclusion of the 2024/25 season.
This includes Zakhele Lepasa, Fortune Makaringe, Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Thabiso Kutumela and Keagan Dolly, amongst others.
The squad is dominated by Mamelodi Sundowns players, however most of them are not the team’s first starters.
SAFA said it has confidence in Ntseki, as he helped the team qualify for the tournament earlier this year, under difficult circumstances.
“He got us to this stage of the journey, and it is only right that he completes the job in the CHAN tournament itself,” said SAFA Technical Committee Chairman Jack Maluleke.
The team will assemble in Johannesburg for camp today, until their departure to Uganda on 3 August.
The team is drawn in Group C against Uganda, Niger, Guinea and Algeria, and will play their opening match of the tournament against Algeria on 8th August.
