Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki has made a promising start in the hotseat, but who ranks the best among the previous tacticians since 1994?
Ntseki guided Bafana to back-to-back victories over Sao Tome and Principe to take a big step towards qualification for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The results see the former national under-17 mentor take his tally as senior head coach to four wins, one draw and two losses since taking over the reins from Stuart Baxter in August last year.
As far as statistics go, Ntseki is enjoying an impressive start to his tenure with a win percentage of 57% – more than any of his predecessors who lasted more than five games.
Should he continue in this vein, the 51-year-old tactician will be hoping to surpass the average two-year lifespan of a Bafana coach by guiding the team all the way to the continental showpiece, with the 2022 FIFA World Cup also set to follow a few months later.
View the gallery above to see the best ever Bafana coaches based on matches won
Shakes Mashaba, a man the former Bloemfontein Celtic youth coach is quite familiar with, currently holds the record for best national team coach with a 55% win percentage from four separate stints combined – including two as interim.
Just behind him is the legendary Clive Barker, who remains the only Bafana coach who has collected silverware at the historic 1996 AFCON in South Africa.
Baxter, whom Ntseki succeeded last year, is level with ex-World Cup winner Carlos Alberto Parreira – both having recorded a win percentage of 44%.