Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has reacted to Orlando Pirates midfielder Relebohile Mofokeng hitting top form just as the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaches.
Fresh from grabbing his first-ever career hat-trick, Mofokeng is enjoying arguably his best football in the Buccaneers colours. He struck three times as the Soweto giants hammered TS Galaxy 6-0 in a Betway Premiership match in Mbombela on Sunday.
After a terrific campaign on the domestic front and in Africa last season, and a solid combination with Mohau Nkota, Mofokeng slumped in form earlier this term. The period between early October and November 2025 saw the 21-year-old having limited minutes and not making the Pirates matchday squad for three games. During this period, he was also linked with an exit from Pirates, with several overseas clubs reportedly keen on signing him.
He was even excluded from the national team’s October camp by Broos. But he managed to pick himself up and went to the 2025 AFCON.
The Buccaneers star has continued with his impressive showing and racked up five Man of the Match awards in the league, setting himself up for the PSL Footballer of the Season gong.
BROOS ON MOFOKENG ALMOST SINKING IN FAME AND REDISCOVERING HIMSELF AS WORLD CUP EDGES CLOSER
“He’s on the right time, in good shape, not only for him. I think that Rele was in a period looking after himself, he became very quick, a star. Here in South Africa, once you have that level, things become a mess and more difficult,” Broos said.
“It happened with Rele also. There were so many things around his head that he forgot to play football. This is totally normal. I don’t blame him for that. When you are such a young guy, and suddenly everyone wants to be with you, it’s difficult to manage that.
“So, he didn’t have such a good season last season at Pirates. So, now this season, little by little, you saw him coming, and now you see Rele, the one everybody wants to see, a very good player also in a different position.
“He plays more central, and I think this is the future for Rele; he’s not a winger. He can play on the wings against an opponent that’s not so strong. But against stronger opponents, he will never play a good game because he’s not a winger,” the Belgian went on.
“He doesn’t have that explosivity or on-the-line dribbling a player. That’s not his qualities, his qualities are his intelligence, his good passes, using the spaces, that’s where Rele is the best. I think now that the coach [Abdeslam Ouaddou] at Pirates will give him that position.
“And it’s not because he scored three times yesterday [Sunday] that we’re saying, ‘ah you see’, no, no’. This is something we know as his best position, and he’s coming, that I can tell you to Bafana to play that position and not on the wings anymore.”
RELATED STORY: Relebohile Mofokeng savours ‘special’ first hat-trick