'Maybe people don't like to hear it, but I am very happy Chiefs and Sundowns are already out,' said the Bafana head coach.
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has again expressed his dissatisfaction at an unwillingness from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to help his side in their preparations for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals.
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Broos revealed this week that a request for the league to go to a Christmas break earlier, to give his side more time to prepare, was rejected by the PSL.
Broos’ Bafana AFCON plans
The season will go into recess after the Carling Knockout final. That is set to take place on December 6, and Bafana will go into camp two days later.
The AFCON will take place from December 21 to January 18 in Morocco, with Bafana’s first game on December 22 against Angola.
“We start with our preparation on the 8th,” said Broos.
“We will go to TUKS in Pretoria, and stay there until, I think, the 17th, we have to be in Morocco five days before our first game. The day before we leave we will play a friendly. We are looking at who we will play.
“Then we will play on the 22nd, the 26th and the 29th. Let’s hope also next year (in the knockout rounds).”
Bafana are also set to play a friendly on November 14, with Zambia the most likely opponents. Then the Bafana coach says he will go home to Belgium to be with his family. He will then fly out to Washington for the 2026 Fifa World Cup finals draw on December 5.
“Then I will be back here on the 7th and we will start the camp on the 8th,” he added.
“I hoped to start a bit earlier. But for the second time the PSL didn’t want to collaborate, because there is the final of the Carling.”
Bafana-PSL run-ins
Broos was vocal in his dissatisfaction with the PSL a couple of years ago, when they refused to stop the season earlier to allow Bafana more time to prepare for the last Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Ivory Coast.
“Maybe people don’t like to hear it, but I am very happy Chiefs and Sundowns are already out (of the Carling Knockout),” quipped Broos, who may also be silently hoping Orlando Pirates get eliminated when they take on Magesi FC in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
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Pirates, like Sundowns, have many players in the Bafana squad, though Chiefs only really have the recently-selected Mduduzi Shabalala.
