The Turkey-born trainer is managing his 12th official match of South Africa’s flagship fixture which will elevate him to joining Vermezovic at the top in the list of coaches with the most appearances in this blockbuster contest.
'VV' took charge of 10 derbies in his time at Chiefs and then another two through the 11 months that he spent in charge of Pirates.
All of Ertugral’s previous 11 games as coach in this contest were from his time as the boss at Kaizer Chiefs where he had two spells, first arriving in 1999-2002, and then returning for a two-year stint between 2007-09.
Etugral’s first derby was a league meeting played on November 20, 1999 which was won by Pirates courtesy of a strike by the late Dennis Lota.
His record in this fixture is not so appealing as it reads three wins, four draws and four defeats through those 11 games with Amakhosi against Pirates.
The 57-year-old also now joins an exclusive list of coaches to have had a feel of this fixture from both ends in the PSL era which has Vermezovic, Kosta Papic and the late Ted Dumitru.
The latest episode of Southern Africa’s biggest football fixture, which often brings in 90 000 fans, comes at a time when Chiefs have been gathering some smomentum over the last month with five consecutive wins, including the penalty shoot-out victory over Maritzburg United last weekend.
On the opposing bench will sit Steve Komphela who is only four matches old in this tie, and is yet to win any of those in open play since he took over at Chiefs at the beginning of last season.
Komphela lost twice to Pirates last season, drew once with his consolation result being a penalty shootout victory in the Telkom Knockout Cup semi-finals.
For the sixth year running a different pair of coaches will be on the two respective benches.