Hugo Broos has expressed his frustration at how he is being treated in South Africa and has told SAFA president Danny Jordaan that he wants to quit his post as the head coach of Bafana Bafana.
Broos recently led Bafana to a third place finish at the 2023 Afcon to deliver the team’s first medal at the tournament for the first time in over two decades.
Soon after the match, the Belgian gaffer called for a meeting with Jordaan where he told him that he is fed up with how he is being treated in the country.
“I had a conversation with the president – on Saturday, we played the match for third place and on Sunday we were in the hotel and I made an appointment with the president and said ‘look, I’d like to stop’,” Broos said on the Frank & Franky podcast, as cited by IDiski Times website.
“I think he was lucky that he was sitting down, otherwise he would’ve fallen over.
“I said, ‘I don’t want to experience the criticism I received here over the last two years again’. Now, everything is good. But in March we have a group of friendlies and if we disappoint, it starts all over again.
“And also, I’m alone in South Africa. My family is here [in Belgium]. I’m not going to do that anymore, two-and-a-half months I was not there. But it’s a lot, especially when you have grandchildren then it’s worse.
“And also the opposition of the league is not to understand. I will give you an example: In May, we started to prepare, we still had some friendly matches and two qualifying matches for the World Cup and then the preparations for AFCON.
“The league was scheduled until 31 December. So I decided to write a letter to the league’s Chairman to ask to stop after Christmas and there was no reply. When the fixtures came out, first thing I looked at was when they break and they only stopped 31 December.
“I wrote another letter to explain that Sundowns players feature in so many competitions, they need a break before AFCON. 14 days later we receive a response, it starts with ‘we support Bafana Bafana and the coach, but we could not change it due to the sponsors’.
“They also said they discussed it with everyone, which is absolutely not true.”
Hugo Broos added: “I told the president, I cannot work like this. I want a meeting with the league chairman,” he continued.
“The chairman has promised that it will happen in the next weeks, and we will see. But the intention was to stop [with Bafana]. I already told the stuff before the Congo match that it might be my last game and there was more drama then.
“We agreed with the chairman that I will not sit there for long anymore but the slightest sign that they start with their daggers again, I will take my luggage and leave. We’ll see what happens in the meeting with the league.”
But Hugo Broos also confirmed that he has not left his position yet.
“No I will continue for the time being, but there are a few conditions that need to be met,” he added.
