Rulani Mokwena joins Pyramids FC but there is a career trend he needs to put a stop to
Nick Said
Rulani Mokwena’s appointment as coach of Pyramids FC is a big step forward in his career, but it is also part of a worrying trend that he will want to arrest sooner rather than later.
The Egyptian side are Mokwena’s fifth club in just two years since he left Mamelodi Sundowns in July 2024.
Some of those moves were steps up, while others came because he did not achieve his targets at certain clubs, but it is not healthy for a coach to be moving around so much in such a short space of time.
Overall, he has been in charge of seven clubs in under seven years since a short spell in charge of Orlando Pirates ended in December 2019.
He had a brief one-match reign at Chippa United before rejoining Mamelodi Sundowns as assistant coach to Pitso Mosimane, then as co-coach with Manqoba Mngqithi and finally on his own in the lead role. His time with Sundowns lasted from 2020 to 2024.
He was appointed coach of Moroccan giants Wydad Casablanca in July 2024 and was out by the following April. Algerian side MC Alger were next on the list, from July 2025 to March 2026, before a short four-month stint with Libyan outfit Al-Ittihad that ended this month.
He has gone straight back to work with Pyramids, one of the plum jobs on the continent and a team who should be genuine contenders for the CAF Champions League this season, having beaten Sundowns to the title two years ago.
The profile of the clubs he has joined since Sundowns is very good, but it is worrying that he has not managed to see out a season with any of them.
Some of that could be down to the fact that North African clubs tend to change coaches very regularly, but results have perhaps also not been what was expected in some instances.
For all his time at those top teams, apart from Sundowns, he has only an Algerian Super Cup title to his name with MC Alger. To be fair, when he left the club in March, they were 12 points clear at the top of the league with a game in hand and would comfortably go on to win the title. Had he stayed, he would have been a champion.
At Wydad, he won 14, drew 14 and lost seven of his 35 matches in charge, which was not good enough for a club of that stature.
Things went better at MC Alger, where he won 20, drew eight and lost six of his 34 games at the helm, for an almost 60% win ratio that took them towards that league triumph.
Five wins, three draws and a single defeat followed at Al-Ittihad, but the team did not reach the championship semi-finals, finishing third in their pool.
He will now hope to put down roots in Cairo with Pyramids, a club that showed patience when needed with former coach Krunoslav Jurčić, although he did deliver the CAF Champions League.
It is a tough domestic league with many good teams, not least Al Ahly and Zamalek, so Mokwena will have his work cut out. But he is a very good tactical manager and will have players of high technical quality at his disposal.
He will, at the very least, want to see out the 2026/27 season and, at the age of 39, is still a relatively young coach in the greater scheme of things.
MentionsSoccerCAF Champions LeaguePyramidsMamelodi SundownsMC AlgerWydad AthleticAl-IttihadChippa Utd.Orlando PiratesAfrican footballGlobalSouth Africa
