Ntseki: Bafana Bafana coach finally signs permanent Safa contract

Bafana Bafana head coach Molefi Ntseki has finally signed an improved contract with the South African Football Association (Safa). 

The 50-year-old mentor was, until Tuesday, still on an assistant coach contract with Safa, three months into his new job as head coach of South Africa's senior national team. 

His agent, Thato Matuka, confirmed to SowetanLIVE on Wednesday that both parties sealed the deal on Tuesday, adding everyone was happy with the terms of the signed contract.  

"We are fine. Both parties are happy‚" Matuka said.

"We actually sealed it yesterday [Tuesday]. We had pretty much agreed on a deal on Thursday‚ but there was just one outstanding matter that both parties had to go back and investigate‚ consult and come back on. That has been resolved," he said. 

The length of Ntseki's new contract is still unclear at this stage, but it is likely he will stay on until the end of the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar. 

Goal reported two weeks ago Ntseki had not put pen to paper on a new deal with Safa following his appointment as Stuart Baxter's successor in September. 

He replaced Baxter soon after the conclusion of the Afcon 2019 finals in Egypt where Bafana Bafana lost in the quarter-finals to Nigeria. 

Ntseki has already taken charge of three international matches for South Africa. 

He has won two [against Mali in the Nelson Mandela Challenge and Sudan in Afcon 2021 qualifiers] while losing the other against Ghana in the team's opening match of Afcon 2021 campaign. 

The former SA U17 coach is yet to appoint a permanent backroom staff and it remains to be seen if he will be given the freedom to do so now that he has signed the contract.

As things stand, Arthur Zwane is Ntseki's assistant while former Bafana Bafana coach Trott Moloto is the team's technical advisor.