Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi goes into Saturday’s classico against Kaizer Chiefs having previously lost half of the games he has coached against AmaKhosi.
The 53-year-old is once again in charge at Sundowns and after a rocky start to the season in the MTN8 has seen his side to victory in their opening two league games of the campaign.
"I should also commend the work coach Nabi has done with the team," Manqoba Mngqithi, coach of Mamelodi Sundowns speaks ahead of the Kaizer Chiefs clash on Saturday. #BetwayPrem pic.twitter.com/KJXyPsPjEJ
— AFCON 2025 (@DiskiAfrika) September 26, 2024
He will be hoping to do the same when they take on Chiefs at Soccer City on Saturday and polish up his own record.
Mngqithi, a former schoolteacher who worked his way up through the coaching ranks, had immediate success against Chiefs in his first season with Lamontville Golden Arrows game, winning his first encounter against Chiefs just weeks after replacing Khabo Zondo in the hot seat.
Arrows substitute Norman Smith scored in the last minute of the clash at the Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney, which was due reward for the visitors being the more enterprising of the two sides.
Two weeks later Mngqithi took his Arrows team to meet Chiefs away again, this time at the Olympia Stadium in Rustenburg, in the first round of the Absa Cup. The game ended goalless after extra time and saw Arrows win 5-4 on penalties as goalkeeper Brendan Wardle saved from Rowen Fernandez to ensure progress.
But after it unraveled somewhat for Mngqithi although there was a thumping 4-1 win for Arrows two season later, again in cup competition.
But by the time, he left Arrows to join AmaZulu, Mngqithi already had a losing record against AmaKhosi and it did not get any better while with Usuthu or when he went back to Arrows after the briefest of spells as Chippa United coach.
But after taking over as co-coach at Mamelodi Sundowns, alongside Rulani Mokwena when Pitso Mosimane left in 2020, his stats have got better.
The new coaching pair’s first league game in charge was 3-0 away mauling of Chiefs. However, it was Chiefs’ 2-1 win away in Pretoria later the same season that blemished Sundowns’ record that season, inflicting on them their only loss of the league campaign.
Mngqithi’s last match against Chiefs, as co-coach with Mokwena, was the 4-0 win in 2022 but soon after that Mngqithi was downgraded to assistant coach.
He has returned to the helm since Mokwena’s departure in July.
Manqoba Mngqithi v Kaizer Chiefs
2006/07
Kaizer Chiefs 0 Lamontville Golden Arrows 1
Kaizer Chiefs 0 Lamontville Golden Arrows 0 (Absa Cup first round, Arrows won 5-4 on pens)
2007/08
Kaizer Chiefs 4 Lamontville Golden Arrows 2
Lamontville Golden Arrows 0 Kaizer Chiefs 1
2008/09
Lamontville Golden Arrows 4 Kaizer Chiefs 1 (Telkom Knockout first round)
Kaizer Chiefs 1 Lamontville Golden Arrows 0
Lamontville Golden Arrows 0 Kaizer Chiefs 1
2009/10
Kaizer Chiefs 2 Lamontville Golden Arrows 0
Lamontville Golden Arrows 0 Kaizer Chiefs 0
2010/11
AmaZulu 0 Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Telkom Knockout first round)
Kaizer Chiefs 3 AmaZulu 1
AmaZulu 1 Kaizer Chiefs 2
2012/13
Kaizer Chiefs 3 Lamontville Golden Arrows 0
Lamontville Golden Arrows 0 Kaizer Chiefs 0
2020/21
Kaizer Chiefs 0 Mamelodi Sundowns 3
Mamelodi Sundowns 1 Kaizer Chiefs 2
2021/22
Mamelodi Sundowns 2 Kaizer Chiefs 2 (MTN8 quarterfinal, Sundowns won 2-1 on pens)
Mamelodi Sundowns 2 Kaizer Chiefs 0
Kaizer Chiefs 1 Mamelodi Sundowns 1
2022/23
Mamelodi Sundowns 4 Kaizer Chiefs 0