Analysis: Chippa United: 33 coaches in 13yrs: No silverware

There is a joke in some South African football circles that when Chippa United hire you as a coach, you don’t have to bring a suitcase full of clothes because you won’t keep the job for long—you will be fired the next day.

While the suitcase joke might be sheer exaggeration, it is fair to suggest that coaching the South African top-flight league team could be among the riskiest in planet football.

🚨 CLUB ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

Chippa United FC confirms a mutual separation with Head Coach Luc Eymael. We thank him for his professionalism and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

We are pleased to welcome back Kanu Vilakazi as the new Head Coach. Familiar with our… pic.twitter.com/JMTusLdMjW

— Chippa United FC (@ChippaUnitedFC) October 22, 2025

Veteran Luc Eymael was sacked as Chippa coach on Wednesday following a 2-1 defeat to Marumo Gallants in a Betway Premiership match on Sunday. The former Free State Stars’ tactician lasted barely two months or seven games in the role. The 66-year-old left the team anchored at the bottom of the Betway Premiership table.

With the Belgian Eymael gone, the Chillies have now changed 33 coaches in 13 years since 2012 when they earned promotion to South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL). Pan-Africa Football sourced the statistics from worldfootball.net.

Who else has coached Chippa United?

The Port Elizabeth-based team has since swiftly announced the return of Vusumuzi Vilakazi for a second stint in charge. He joins a list of coaches who had two stints with Chippa namely Thabo September, Ian Palmer, Kurt Lentjies, Siyabulela Gwambi, Lehlohonolo Seema, Roger Sikhakhane and Morgan Mmamila.

Perhaps that pales into comparison with Dan Malesela who has coached Chippa on four separate occasions…and counting!

A fan commenting on Eymael’s sacking via Facebook, looked at the positive side of the development, saying: “It works for chairman Mpangesi because his team has never been relegated since they were promoted.”

The changes have not only made the team’s coaching job probably the riskiest in South African football, but they have also denied them the opportunity to win silverware, which only comes with continuity.

Asked for his opinion on the state of affairs at Chippa, the club’s former coach Mark Harrison told Pan-Africa Football that the team’s environment is not conducive for winning silverware.

“It is not conducive to continuity,” the Englishman said. “Let us be truthful, the best clubs in the world give coaches an opportunity, but when you keep firing coaches left, right and centre, do you get the due rewards? Nothing.”

Harrison’s argument is correct considering that South Africa’s most successful club over the past two decades, Mamelodi Sundowns, has hired five coaches since 2012. During the same period, Africa’s top club Al Ahly of Egypt have had 12 coaches.

South African media reports show that businessman Siviwe Mpangesi formed Chippa in 2010, when they started campaigning in the lower leagues before PSL promotion two years later.

However, the model of running the team has not delivered the much-desired silverware. Just for how long will the Chillies be a team that fights relegation and not competing for trophies?