Staff Reporter

The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has finalised the transfer of business between Bloemfontein Celtic and the KwaZulu-Natal based Royal AM.

A circular issued by the PSL on Tuesday and addressed to the chairpersons and chief executive officers of all member clubs says the football body has approved the transfer of business and advises of the team’s name change and relocation.

“The club previously known as Bloemfontein Celtic will participate in the DSTV Premiership as Royal AM this season, with its home venue at Chatsworth Stadium,” reads part of the circular.

The sale will bring to an end the team’s colourful 52 years of existence after it was founded by Norman Mathobisa and Victor Mahatane in 1969.

Celtic has been dogged by financial troubles over the past few years with players failing to get their salaries on time on several occasions.

This is said to have forced club owner Max Tshabalala to hand over the team to Durban businesswoman and socialite Shawn Mkhize for R50 million.

Mkhize owns First Division side Royal AM and wanted to elevate her profile in the male-dominated field by buying Celtic’s premiership status.

She has since sold her team to pursue her dream of owning a soccer team in the top-flight league, the PSL confirmed.

“The club previously known as Royal AM will participate in GladAfrica Champioship as Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, with its home venue at Thohoyandou Stadium,” the circular explained.

Belgian Hugo Broos has been named the new coach of Bafana Bafana‚ the South African Football Association (SAFA) announced on Wednesday.

Broos, 69, arrives with an impressive CV‚ most notably having won league titles in Belgium with Club Brugge twice and once with Anderlecht‚ and led Cameroon to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations title.

The announcement was made at the SABC’s Radio Park in Auckland Park.

Broos’ name is believed to have been one of five that SAFA’s technical committee confirmed as their shortlist to an NEC meeting on April 24.

That list‚ sources have said‚ consisted of Portuguese ex-Bafana and Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz‚ AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy‚ Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane‚ Kaizer Chiefs boss Gavin Hunt and either Broos or Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard.

SAFA‚ sources had revealed‚ approached both Queiroz and McCarthy in recent weeks‚ but the association was unable to meet demands from both regarding the fellow technical staff they wanted the association to appoint.

Broos replaces Molefi Ntseki‚ who was released from his contract as Bafana head coach on March 31‚ after the national team’s failure to qualify for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

A 1970s and 1980s defender who earned 24 caps for Belgium‚ Broos’ playing career was spent mostly at RSC Anderlecht (350 appearances) and Club Brugge (161).

He began his coaching career at RWD Molenbeek in 1988‚ and from 1991 to 1997 at Club Brugge won league titles in 1991-92 and 1995-96‚ the Belgian Cup in 1994-95 and 1995-96‚ and Belgian Supercup in 1991‚ 1992‚ 1994 and 1996.

Coaching Anderlecht from 2003 to 2005 he won the 2003-04 league title.

He coached the late former Bafana right-back Anele Ngcongca at KRC Genk in 2008.

Since then his career has taken him to Panserraikos in Greece‚ Trabzonspor in Turkey‚ Al Jazira in United Arab Emirates‚ JS Kabylie and NA Hussein Dey in Algeria‚ and then Cameroon from 2016 to 2017.

Most recently he was sports director, then caretaker-manager of Oostende‚ where Mamelodi Sundowns star Andile Jali played until 2018‚ in Belgium between 2018 and 2019.

Broos was sacked as coach of the Indomitable Lions by the Cameroonian Football Federation in December 2017‚ 10 months after he led them to their fifth Africa Cup of Nations title in Gabon that year‚ reportedly over pay issues.

Cameroon beat Egypt 2-1 in the Nations Cup final on February 5 2017.

They had progressed through the group stage with a win and two draws‚ then beat Senegal on penalties in the quarterfinals‚ and Ghana 2-0 in the semis.

Having coached in North and West Africa on the continent‚ Broos will have an adjustment to make to a different playing style and mental approach in South Africa.

He also must undergo a quick crash course on SA football and the players he has available as Bafana’s 2022 Qatar World Cup group stage qualification campaign begins with the match against Zimbabwe in Harare on the weekend of June 5 to 6. – Times Live

After a decade of disappointment, Pep Guardiola is back in a Champions League final and just one game away from delivering on his task to make Manchester City champions of Europe for the first time.

In the battle between two clubs with seemingly endless resources but no Champions League titles to their name, City kept their cool to beat Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 on aggregate as the French champions paid for losing their heads in both legs of the semi-final tie.

Riyad Mahrez, born and raised in Paris, scored twice to secure a 2-0 win for City in Tuesday’s second leg before Angel di Maria’s red card for lashing out at Fernandinho rounded off another miserable European exit for the French champions.

A first Champions League final for City, against Real Madrid or Chelsea in Istanbul, is the culmination of the club’s rise since an Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008 transformed their fortunes.

In the coming days, they will seal a fifth Premier League title in the past 10 years.

Once dubbed the “noisy neighbours” by legendary former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, City are now not just the dominant force in Manchester but also in English football.

By the end of the month, the mix of Emirati wealth and Guardiola’s coaching may have also conquered Europe.

“Of course we invest a lot of money since Sheikh Mansour took over, but it is not just this. It is a lot of incredible things behind the scenes,” said Guardiola.

“Reaching the final of the Champions League helps us realise in the bigger picture what we have done in the last four years. What we have done these four years is incredible.”

Since a difficult first year in England, Guardiola has led City to four League Cups, an FA Cup and the brink of a third Premier League title in four seasons.

However, until now, that domestic success always came with the caveat of Champions League collapses.

Guardiola has won the competition twice before as a coach during his time at Barcelona, but not since 2011.

City did not even progress beyond the last eight in his first four seasons in charge.

It was a similar story for the Catalan in his three years at Bayern Munich between 2013 and 2016 as three Bundesliga titles were overshadowed by three semi-final exits to Spanish opposition.

“People believe because it happened in the past I have to arrive every year in the final of the Champions League,” added Guardiola.

“This is a little bit unfair because the consistency these guys have shown in every competition these last four or five years is remarkable.”

Missed chances, controversial refereeing decisions and sloppy defending frequently combined to cost them in recent seasons.

This time an early penalty awarded against Oleksandr Zinchenko was overturned after a VAR review, Mahrez was deadly with his two chances and City’s much-improved defence withstood a first-half barrage.

“The first-half they were so good but we defended so well. We defend all together, helped each other,” said Guardiola after a 31st clean sheet of the season.

“To reach the final in this competition is so difficult. It is the toughest one for the quality of the opponents, the composure you have to have and to suffer the toughest moments. We did it.”

Win one more game on May 29 and Guardiola will be among a select band of just three other managers – Bob Paisley, Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane – to win the European Cup three times.

With already 25 major trophies to his name in just 12 seasons in charge of Barcelona, Bayern and City, the 50-year-old can silence any lasting doubters and cement his status as one of the greatest coaches of all time with victory in Istanbul. – AFP