Steve Komphela will lead Moroka Swallows against a club he has both coached and had plenty of skirmishes with down the years when they take on Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the DStv Premiership at the Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday.
Former defender Komphela played for Chiefs during a stellar career, and later coached them for almost three full seasons between 2015 and 2018, though his tenure failed to bring silverware to Naturena.
He has met Chiefs 23 times as a head coach but won only three times to go with seven draws and 13 defeats.
Komphela had a better time of it working as senior coach/assistant coach with Rulani Mokwena and Manqoba Mngqithi at Mamelodi Sundowns, winning three of his five clashes against Chiefs with two draws.
Here is a breakdown of his past clashes with the AmaKhosi.
DYNAMOS
P1 W0 D0 L1 GF0 GA1
The 2003/04 PSL season was a strange one for Komphela as he started and finished it with Manning Rangers, but in between left for a short spell with Dynamos. Both meetings between Rangers and Chiefs were while he was at Dynamos, where he clashed only once with the Soweto club. That resulted in a 1-0 loss.
FREE STATE STARS (FIRST SPELL)
P3 W1 D1 L1 GF2 GA1
He later joined Free State Stars, where he had been a star player, after a spell with the junior national teams for what would be the first of two successful stints with the club, where he enjoyed his first success against Chiefs. That came in the 2008/09 season as Hleza Mofedi and Prince Olumo scored in a 2-0 win. The teams also played to a 0-0 draw that season, while Chiefs won a Nedbank Cup tie 1-0 in extra-time.
PLATINUM STARS
P2 W0 D0 L2 GF1 GA4
Komphela had an ill-fated single season with Platinum Stars where Dikwena went down twice to Chiefs, losing 1-0 and 3-1. He saw out the campaign but left at the end of it.
FREE STATE STARS (SECOND SPELL)
P9 W1 D3 L5 GF6 GA12
Komphela returned to Free State Stars and spent a little over three years in charge. He had some early success with a 1-0 league win over Chiefs in December 2010, but that was as good as it got. He suffered two Telkom Knockout losses to the AmaKhosi in that time, the second of those agonisingly on penalties. His final game in charge of Stars was a 2-0 loss to Chiefs in the league.
MARITZBURG UNITED
P4 W1 D1 L2 GF3 GA4
He later moved to Maritzburg United and had a mixed time of it, though he did enjoy a single victory as Khumbulani Banda scored the only goal in a 1-0 win in March 2015. At the end of that campaign he replaced Stuart Baxter as coach at Naturena, but could not repeat the latter’s success with the team.
BLOEMFONTEIN CELTIC
P1 W0 D1 L0 GF2 GA2
After just shy of three seasons at Chiefs, Komphela left suddenly when his side lost a Nedbank Cup semifinal to Free State Stars and unhappy fans showed their displeasure at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. He was soon back in a job at Bloemfontein Celtic but spent a matter of months at the cash-strapped Free State club before moving on. During that time he was involved in a 2-2 draw with Chiefs.
LAMONTVILLE GOLDEN ARROWS
P3 W0 D1 L2 GF1 GA4
Komphela headed to Golden Arrows in December 2018 and would spend almost two years there. That included three meetings with Chiefs, but none yielded a win. A 1-1 league draw in April 2019 was as good as it got.
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS (SENIOR COACH/ASSISTANT COACH)
P5 W3 D2 L0 GF10 GA3
He surprised many when he took up the role of senior coach at Sundowns, working under Mokwena and Mngqithi following the exit of Pitso Mosimane. As a coaching team they enjoyed great success, including against Chiefs where they won three of their five meetings to go with two draws. One of those stalemates was in the MTN8 quarterfinals, where Sundowns completed a victory on penalties. There was also a 4-0 league win in there. He left the role at the start of this season to join Swallows.