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Is Tunisian tactician Nasreddine Nabi the saviour Kaizer Chiefs have been waiting for?

Is Tunisian tactician Nasreddine Nabi the saviour Kaizer Chiefs have been waiting for?
Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi and players during their media open day at Kaizer Chiefs Village on 11 September 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo: Lefty Shivambu / Gallo Images)
Yanga Sibembe
By Yanga Sibembe
1 Oct 2024
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Many coaches have come and gone without reviving Kaizer Chiefs, but early signs show that Nasreddine Nabi may be the exception to this trend.

Three games into their 2024/25 season, Kaizer Chiefs are showing a personality and hunger that has not been visible for years. It is early days in the season; however, it appears that the team’s large and demanding fan base has already seen some promising positives.

Hence, in each of those three matches Amakhosi have played in front of capacity crowds. This despite the matches taking place across three different provinces in the country.

Their opening Premiership tussle against newcomers Marumo Gallants, which they won 2-1, was a sold-out affair in the Free State. Two weeks later, they clashed with and beat AmaZulu in Durban. Once more, all the tickets put up for sale were sold.

Nkosana Mbuthu of Kaizer Chiefs during their Toyota Cup 2024 match against Young Africans at Toyota Stadium on 28 July 2024 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. (Photo: Charle Lombard / Gallo Images)



Most recently, Chiefs played their first home match of the season against reigning South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns at FNB Stadium, which they painted gold and black – dwarfing the blue and yellow of the Brazilians.

“The country is on fire. I must thank the Chiefs supporters who have shown their love for the game,” said Chiefs’ marketing and commercial director Jessica Motaung.

The Nabi effect


Despite the fact that the Sundowns tie ended in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Amakhosi, a wave of optimism has gripped the Soweto side. 

For the first time in many seasons, Chiefs appear to have regained some of their aura as a feared South African team. This is largely thanks to Tunisian tactician Nasareddine Nabi and his technical team.           

The 59-year-old came to South Africa after one season of coaching Moroccan side AS FAR, with whom he secured the league runners-up medal, behind Raja Casablanca. It was an identical outcome in the Throne Cup, with Raja edging AS FAR 2-1 in the domestic tournament.

Before heading to Morocco, Nabi coached teams in countries such as Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Tanzania. 

Two league titles


In the latter country, the tactician was in charge of Young Africans (more commonly known as Yanga) and won two league titles on the spin.

This includes winning the Tanzanian Premier League without tasting a single defeat during the 30-game 2021/22 campaign.

Ironically, Nabi and Chiefs were poised to work together last season. However, the parties could not agree on the technical team’s make-up. Nabi wanted his own people, while Chiefs put a cap on how many staff members he could bring along.

This collapsed the negotiations and led to Nabi eventually moving to Morocco instead, to the disappointment of Amakhosi.

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi and players during their media open day at Kaizer Chiefs Village on 11 September 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo: Lefty Shivambu / Gallo Images)



Chiefs looked internally for a coach and eventually settled on former Bafana Bafana mentor Molefi Ntseki. Before ascending to head coach of the senior side, Ntseki was Chiefs’ head of technical and youth development.

However, he did not last long and became yet another coaching casualty at Chiefs, being fired just a couple months into the 2023/24 campaign. This after Chiefs’ elimination from the MTN8 and Carling Knockout Cup, as well as an indifferent start in the league.

Even the experienced Cavin Johnson – who took over from Ntseki on an interim basis until the end of last season – struggled to make Chiefs play with the vigour and personality befitting the club’s history.

Promising start


However, Nabi’s start has been promising. Even though his side is still lacking in certain areas, they have shown the impetus to be more competitive this season. 

Nonetheless, he has also acknowledged that he needs some more personalities in the team.

Chiefs made a few great signings in the recent transfer window, including former Sundowns star Gaston Sirino, as well as Angolan defender Inácio Miguel, left-back Bradley Cross and midfielder Njabulo Blom.

Goal-scoring prospects


Within that, they also missed out some of their targets, including acquiring a striker to improve their goal-scoring prospects.

Nabi believes that the break Chiefs will enjoy due to the MTN8 final between Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch this weekend, in addition to the subsequent international break, will benefit his team somewhat. Even though it is not ideal.    

“The market in Africa is not positive at the moment. In October we don’t play, we only have November and December, and then the window opens in January,” Nabi told journalists after the defeat by Sundowns, hinting that he would look to scour the market as soon as it opened again.

“I have three months to seriously scout for the quality players I want,” he said.

The Tunisian – who joins a long list of coaches who have tried to resuscitate Amakhosi in recent years – bemoaned the stop-start nature of the Premiership to date.

“The turnaround times between matches can present challenges. If you have more than one week’s rest between games you can lose something. But our fitness coaches have been working hard to get the players in the best possible shape to perform at a high level,” Nabi told Chiefs’ media department.

Last season Amakhosi’s players appeared to be playing with weights around their ankles. Since Nabi took over, there is a bright spark emanating from Naturena. It is unlikely to see them win the league title, but it may be enough to snap the club’s nine-year trophy drought. DM

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