Former Kaizer Chiefs coach Muhsin Ertugral makes dramatic return to PSL

Former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates coach Muhsin Ertugral has made a dramatic return to South African football, taking the reins of Cape Town City until the end of the 2024-25 season.

City announced Ertugral as their new technical director on Thursday morning. The Citizens said the hugely experienced 65-year-old will also finish the season as head coach, after the club parted ways with Eric Tinkler on Tuesday.

The German-Turk last coached in the Betway Premiership six years ago, in a one-month stint with Maritzburg United from late December 2018 to late January 2019.

He joins City having worked as a technical adviser for the Turkish national team from March 2020.

Ertugral's first assignment, assuming his paperwork is in order, will be against the club where he made his name in South Africa, Chiefs, at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday (5.45pm).

“Cape Town City is delighted to announce the appointment of Muhsin Ertugral as technical director of the club,” the Citizens said.

“Muhsin brings a wealth of local and international football experience to the club's future project, having most recently served as the technical adviser of the Turkish national team for the past four years.

“Muhsin will step in as head coach until the end of the current season, joining first team coaches Diogo Peral and Lebogang Manyama.”

Former Trabzonspor and Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) boss Ertugral made his introduction to South African football coaching Chiefs in an exciting period from 1999 to 2003, in which he was credited with introducing a number of young players, including Jabu Mahlangu.

He won the 1999-2000 BobSave Superbowl and 2000-2001 Coca-Cola Cup, a season where Chiefs were Premiership runners-up, plus the 2001-02 Rothmans Cup. Chiefs tasted their only continental success under Ertugral, winning the now defunct African Cup Winners’ Cup in 2001.

He led a young Ajax Cape Town — then owned by present City chair John Comitis — to the 2006-07 Absa Cup trophy and MTN8 final, and a fourth-placed finish in the Premiership.

Ertugral returned to Chiefs in 2007 and won the 2007-08 Coca-Cola Cup and 2008-09 MTN8 before his departure in 2009.

His cup successes dried up from the 2010s onward in a well-travelled coaching career that has also seen him take charge of teams including Club Africain in Tunisia, SV Mattersburg in Austria, Ismaily in Egypt, Sivasspor in Turkey and Lamontville Golden Arrows and Mpumalanga Black Aces in South Africa.

He ended a disastrous five-month stint with Pirates at the start of the 2016-17 season, quitting via an overnight email to chair Irvin Khoza after a 6-1 hammering by SuperSport United in Mbombela in November 2016.

Ertugral, a member of the Fifa technical study group for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, is known as a technically strong coach whose short fuse with players can be an undoing.

City are in 12th place with three wins, two draws and five defeats from 10 Premiership matches.