Motsepe Foundation Championship Off-Season | 18 June 2026
University of Pretoria have moved to appoint former Mamelodi Sundowns set-piece coach Michael Loftman as their new head coach, ending a brief search that opened when Kwanele Kopo departed by mutual agreement on 8 June. The Tshwane outfit finished 11th in the Motsepe Foundation Championship last season, just six points clear of the relegation zone, and the appointment is being framed as a reset rather than a tweak. Loftman arrives from Western Cape ABC Motsepe League side Houtbay FC, where he has spent the past stretch sharpening his head-coach credentials after years working under Rulani Mokwena and Manqoba Mngqithi at Chloorkop. AmaTuks have not lifted themselves back to the Betway Premiership since the 2015/16 season, and two failed promotion play-offs in the years since have left the fan base impatient for a real push.
The appointment
Loftman’s reputation was built on detail — set-piece routines, pressing triggers, transition geometry — work that earned him a long run inside one of Africa’s most demanding coaching environments at Sundowns. The Houtbay detour gave him the chance to run a full programme himself, and AmaTuks were watching. The club is expected to confirm his technical staff in the coming days, with pre-season preparations slated to resume at the end of June.
What it means
The Kopo era was always going to be judged on promotion or nothing, and an 11th-place finish made the conversation short. Loftman inherits a squad that scored 37 and conceded 41 — symptoms of a team that could hurt opponents but never controlled enough games to climb. The brief is plain. Tighten the structure, sharpen the dead-ball work that has always been his calling card, and turn AmaTuks back into a side that travels with conviction.
The festival in the middle
Lay over the top of all this the AmaTuks Women’s Super League festival at Tuks Stadium on 19-21 June, and the off-season suddenly looks busy. The men’s first team will be working in the background while the women’s programme takes the front of the stage — a useful reminder that the football club at the university is bigger than any one promotion campaign.
