Eyebrows were raised when Rulani Mokwena was announced as the new head coach of MC Alger but there are three reasons why the stars could be aligning.
Mokwena missed out on going to the FIFA Club World twice in one season, as he was surprisingly relieved of his duties at former club Mamelodi Sundowns prior to the 2024/25 campaign.
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And after the 38-year-old coach got an opportunity at Wydad Casablanca shortly thereafter, a team that also qualified for the Club World Cup, the Soweto native coach was also denied the opportunity to sit side by side with the likes of Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, a few months before the global tournament began.
Although the erudite tactician was linked with a return to Orlando Pirates and clubs in countries up North like Zamalek, who are popular, he eventually settled for MC, who could be the right club at the right time, with the resources to support his talent.
"MC Alger, owned by Sonatrach an Algerian oil and gas company, Algeria is a top ten exporter in the entire world, top 20 in terms of oil, this is a huge oil and gas company. If you look at Africa, companies that make money, Sinotrach is number one by far, bigger than MTN, bigger than any other company on the African continent," Algerian journalist Maher Mezahi revealed on African Five-a-side podcast.
"So in theory they should have a huge budget, this is also a club with the most amount of supporters. They are by far the most popular club in Algeria, they are the only club in Algeria on a week by week basis who can fill up the 5 July 1962 stadium with 67 000 supporters,
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"There's been a political will to ensure Algeria has a club in the top five in Africa. We know about Al Ahly, Esperance, Wydad, Sundowns, Algeria wants a club to be at that level. They have their own stadium, I don't think there's any other club in Africa with a stadium like this to itself. They have everything that's necessary, I think they were just missing one or two players and a coach," Mezahi suggested.
Mokwena will be looking to improve on MC Alger's CAF Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Pirates last season but he will be expected to retain the Algerian Ligue 1 title the club have won back-to-back.
