{"id":63359,"date":"2025-10-24T14:54:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach"},"modified":"2025-10-24T17:52:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T17:52:04","slug":"hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach","title":{"rendered":"Hugo Broos Supports Helman Mkhalele for Bafana Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has publicly endorsed his assistant, Helman \u201cMidnight Express\u201d Mkhalele, as the ideal candidate to take over the national team once he steps down after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The 72-year-old Belgian, who has overseen a resurgence in South African football since taking charge, believes continuity will be key to sustaining the progress Bafana Bafana have made under his leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the best thing to do is Helman becomes the coach after me,\u201d Broos said. \u201cYou will have the continuation of the same thing \u2014 the way of work, the philosophy will stay the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mkhalele, a former Bafana Bafana international and 1996 AFCON winner, has served as Broos\u2019 assistant since 2021, playing a vital role in player development and tactical preparation. His deep understanding of the local game and close connection with the players have earned him widespread respect within the team.<\/p>\n<p>Broos\u2019 endorsement is a strong signal of confidence in Mkhalele\u2019s ability to maintain and build upon the foundation that has seen South Africa re-emerge as one of Africa\u2019s most competitive national teams.<\/p>\n<p>With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, Broos remains focused on performing well \u2014 but his succession plan suggests he wants to leave Bafana Bafana in safe, experienced hands when the time comes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Lesotho<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has publicly endorsed his assistant, Helman \u201cMidnight Express\u201d Mkhalele, as the ideal candidate to take over the national team once he steps down after the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The 72-year-old Belgian, who has overseen a resurgence in South African football since taking charge, believes continuity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":63358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-63359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hugo Broos Supports Helman Mkhalele for Bafana Coach - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has publicly endorsed his assistant, Helman \u201cMidnight Express\u201d Mkhalele, as the idea ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hugo Broos Supports Helman Mkhalele for Bafana Coach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has publicly endorsed his assistant, Helman \u201cMidnight Express\u201d Mkhalele, as the idea ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-24T14:54:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-24T17:52:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/10\/sm_1761313508.120683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1131\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Hugo Broos Supports Helman Mkhalele for Bafana Coach\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-24T14:54:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-24T17:52:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/10\/sm_1761313508.120683.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/hugo-broos-supports-helman-mkhalele-for-bafana-coach\",\"name\":\"Hugo Broos Supports Helman Mkhalele for Bafana Coach - 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