Mosimane’s previous overseas hits & misses at Bafana
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Mosimane’s previous overseas hits & misses at Bafana
Aug 16, 2026 – 03:00 pm
By Kickoff writer
Following the emergence of overseas-based players in the Bafana Bafana squad, KickOff looked back at how Pitso Mosimane integrated and experimented with players plying their trade abroad from his previous spell.
Former Bafana head coach Hugo Broos was not one to be afraid of giving unknown players a chance in the national team, whether locally or abroad but particularly on the latter, his biggest find was Sphephelo Sithole, who got a rare opportunity, initially playing in the second division in Portugal.
READ | Pitso’s top 5 favourite players in previous spell at Bafana
Although Broos used largely PSL players, towards the end of his reign in charge he had started to emphasize the importance of overseas-based players in the squad, after SA were over-powered by Cameroon in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 exit encounter.
As a result, the Belgian brought in the likes of Olwethu Makhanya and Ime Okon into the national team fold in his final 2026 FIFA World Cup squad.
Shortly after taking over in July 2010 post the World Cup, Mosimane had a little room for experiments, as he gave England-based forward Davide Somma his first call-up and debut.
Somma, who was playing for Leeds United in the Championship, however, did not live up to expectations and featured only in a total of three matches.
The former assistant coach of Carlos Alberto Parreira did not have many other such experiments from players based abroad, apart from the likes of Dylan Claasen, whom he gave his debut while playing for Lierse SK in Belgium and Bevan Fransman, who was playing for Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel.
The regular overseas-based contingent under Mosimane were the likes of Steven Pienaar (England), Anele Ngcongca (Belgium), Kagisho Dikgacoi (England), Siboniso Gaxa (Belgium before joining Kaizer Chiefs)( and Tsepo Masilela (Spain and Israel before joining Chiefs).
The former Al Ahly coach, however, will have to hit the ground running, with the AFCON qualifiers starting in earnest next month.