The South African Football Association has revealed that legendary Italian managers Roberto Mancini and Giovanni Trapattoni have applied for the vacant national team job.
Following the dismissal of Shakes Mashaba as Bafana Bafana boss, their governing body is now considering high-profile coaching applicants from Europe, with former Manchester City manager Mancini and ex-Republic of Ireland boss Trapattoni said to be among the candidates.
"More than sixty applications have been received and some of the candidates are Roberto Mancini, Giovanni Trapattoni, Hassan Shehata, Hugo Broos, Muhsin Ertugral, Samson Siasia, Lothar Matthäus, Bernd Schuster, while some are still contracted to their teams and cannot be mentioned," SAFA stated.
Association president Danny Jordaan added: "We want to have the process expedited as Bafana Bafana have a bumper 2017 season in which they need to compete and qualify on three fronts – namely CHAN, AFON and the World Cup in Russia 2018."
Mancini left his last club, Inter Milan, by mutual agreement earlier this season, while Trapattoni has previously coached AC Milan, Juventus, Inter, Bayern Munich and the Italian national team.
Giuseppe Labellarte
