The opinion is clear. A little harsh. This Sunday, on the eve of South Africa’s third group stage match against Zimbabwe, Hugo Broos, the Belgian coach of Bafana Bafana, gave his opinion on the organization of the 2025 African Cup of Nations in Morocco. And the least we can say is that he is not satisfied.
“It is not comparable to the African Cups of Nations in Gabon or Ivory Coast,” he said. There, it really felt like we were in a tournament. When we took the bus to training, people waved flags and greeted us. There is nothing here. »
The South African coach criticizes in particular the low crowds in the stadiums, compensated for by the free opening of the stands during the match. “The usual atmosphere of the African Cup of Nations is not there,” judged Hugo Broos. If entry to the stadium is not free, no one comes to watch the matches. Nobody came to watch the match between South Africa and Egypt, nobody came to our match against Angola. »
“It was already chaos”
According to the Belgian, this free ticket policy is also dangerous. “My family attended the Egypt match, and it was already chaos before it even kicked off,” he said. Police prevented some people from entering the stadium, despite having tickets. People with tickets could not enter because crowds of people without tickets were allowed to pass. My wife said she was scared. The organization is catastrophic. »
These are not the first controversial comments from the coach. Before the competition, he was notably the target of a complaint for comments “with racist connotations” against his defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi. “This is another example of the unprofessional behavior of many South African footballers (…) He is a black boy, but he will leave my office like a white boy,” he declared.
