Former Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates coach Rulani Mokwena has explained his decision to leave MC Alger for a new project in Libya with Al-Ittihad.
Mokwena recently parted ways with Algerian giants on a mutual agreement to take over the coaching job at Al-Ittihad, a decision that came as a surprise.
The highly rated mentor left Alger only eight months into the job, having taken over the coaching gig at the start of the 2025/26 season amid a lot of excitement around the project.
In his stint with MC Alger, Mokwena proved his tactical qualities as a coach after leading the team to potentially win the league title in Algeria for most of the campaign. Mokwena is leaving the club sitting comfortably at the summit of the table – on course to win the title.
The Soweto-born coach was in charge of 34 matches across all competitions at MC Alger, winning 20, drawing eight, and losing six. Mokwena also won silverware with Alger after clinching the Super Cup against rivals USM Alger earlier this year.
However, Mokwena had a disappointing run in the CAF Champions League after crashing out in the group stages, where he was pitted against his former side Sundowns, Al-Hilal, and FC Saint-Eloi Lupopo. In the tightly contested Group C, Masandawana and Al-Hilal finished second and first, respectively, to book a place in the quarter-final of the Champions League.
In a shocking turn of events this past weekend, Mokwena downed tools at MC Alger to take over at Al-Ittihad, reuniting him with South African winger Thembinkosi Lorch.
WHY RULANI MOKWENA LEFT MC ALGER FOR AL-ITTIHAD PROJECT
The 39-year-old has revealed that he accepted the offer to take over the Libyan giants because it’s a bigger project and it’s giving him the opportunity to bring his South African technical team on board.
“It’s quite complicated to answer [leaving MC Alger] in a few words because it was a very difficult decision, but we felt it was the right decision,” Mokwena told Robert Marawa on 947.
“It was motivated by a couple of things, one, it was the fact that the team is in a very good position to continue and win the league, which would be the third title in a row. The team is strong enough to be able to see it through. While some may question the timing, my agent, Steven Kapeluschnik, and I felt this was the right moment to make the move.
“This is especially because there was a better opportunity to drive a bigger project and help quite a few of our South African people explore, as we did with coach [Allan] Freese at Wydad [Athletic Club].
“We felt we were given an opportunity to allow many South African coaches to work outside of the country, whether that is through the first team, the youth football space, or women’s football, because those are the departments we would be heading in. So we would be looking at trying to have power with people from South Africa and not people just from South Africans but because they have the necessary expertise and qualities to be able to support us in the project.”
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