Former Bafana Bafana left-back Quinton Fortune has joined the Serbia national team as assistant coach to Veljko Paunovic.
The 48-year-old’s appointment comes as The Eagles are entering the final push to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. They are set to face England in a Group K match at Wembley Stadium on November 13, before hosting Latvia three days later.
Serbia are currently third in their group with just a point fewer than second-placed Albania, who are at the play-offs cut-off point. Should the European country qualify for the USA/Canada/Mexico World Cup, Fortune could find himself in a similar space that compatriot Roger de Sa once found himself. De Sa was Carlos Queiroz’s Iran assistant coach at the last World Cup edition in Qatar.
Fortune and Paunovic are reunited as the two started working together at Atletico Madrid as players in the late 1990s. After switching to coaching from playing, they teamed up at Reading in the English Championship.
The duo’s working partnership took them to Mexican top-flight league side CD Guadalajara, with Fortune working under the Serb.
When Paunovic was sacked by La Liga side Real Oviedo in early October, where Fortune was his understudy, they left together. The former Manchester United defender has now been roped in as part of Paunovic’s backroom staff for Serbia.
A RELATIONSHIP THAT HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME BETWEEN FORTUNE AND PAUNOVIC
“Quinton and I met in Spain when we arrived at Atletico Madrid as eighteen-year-olds. I call him Fortune because that’s how it’s pronounced in Spain,” Paunovic described his right-hand man on his unveiling as Serbia coach.
“We stayed in the same apartment with three other young players, in a building called Calle Penguino. Later, we joined the first team, but we were never apart – I was in the attic, he was downstairs on the first floor.
“We visited as a family and were great friends. He is the only foreigner I’ve met whose first words of Serbian he learned weren’t swear words. First, he learned ‘brate’ [brother], then ‘kako si’ [how are you’], and then our food.
“My mother often invited him to meals, and he fell in love with Serbian cuisine. Once, when my mother was leaving for Belgrade, Quinton called out from the door: ‘Greetings to Sale and Uncle Rade!’ – those were my brother and uncle. He probably heard it from Đole Tomic and remembered it. He was the captain of South Africa, but above all, he is a great man and friend. And I admit, his Serbian got much better.”
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