Kaizer Chiefs have parted ways with coach Nasreddine Nabi despite their positive start to the 2025-26 season, according to reports.
This comes the day after third-placed Amakhosi suffered their first Premiership defeat of the season on Tuesday night, 3-1 against Sekhukhune United, who went top of the log.
SABCSport.com reported on Wednesday the official reason was related to Nabi not possessing the coaching qualification required by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to sit on the bench in the Caf Confederation League.
While the 60-year-old Tunisian has a Uefa Pro Licence he needs an equivalent Caf qualification to sit on the bench in the continental ruling body’s interclub competitions.
SABC reported the coach’s contract has been terminated.
Chiefs have yet to release a statement but are expected to do so soon.
Amakhosi begin their 2025-26 Confed Cup campaign with a first preliminary round, first leg clash against Kabuscorp of Angola at Estádio 11 de Novembro in Luanda on Saturday (5pm SA time).
iDiski Times reported Nabi opted to leave the club to be with his wife in Tunisia. Amakhosi last month granted him compassionate leave after she had been involved in a “critical accident”.
While Nabi was away, Chiefs won three games — against Stellenbosch FC, Polokwane City and Richards Bay — prompting many supporters to question if the team functioned better under his assistants, Khalil Ben Youssef and Cedric Kaze. The pair insisted Nabi was involved in planning while away.
Information from Naturena during Nabi’s tenure was consistently that the coach was a difficult character to work with and battled to relate to and win over his players.
The Caf qualification issue and matter concerning his wife might have provided Chiefs with convenient excuses to part ways with the coach.
Nabi joined Chiefs before the previous season, tasked with rebuilding the team after a disastrous nine seasons without silverware and an all-time worst 10th-placing in the 2023-24 Premiership.
He arrived having had success in Tanzania with Young Africans, winning that country’s Premier League in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and steering “Yanga” to the 2022-23 Confederation Cup final.
He enjoyed a strong 2023-24 season in Morocco’s Botola, steering FAR Rabat to the runners-up place by a point from Raja Casablanca, who went undefeated in that league campaign.
His time at Chiefs will overall be adjudged a disappointment despite ending a 10-year trophy drought by clinching the previous campaign’s Nedbank Cup with a 2-1 win against Orlando Pirates in the final.
Chiefs were dull and woefully inconsistent, ending in ninth place in the 2024-25 Premiership, despite some decent signings.
Bolstered by more signings they were showing signs of a far better campaign in 2025-26, in which Nabi would have hoped to prove himself to the club’s expectant fan base. That mission, though, has been cut short.
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