Rulani Mokwena
Rulani Mokwena is a South African professional football manager who is the assistant manager of Mamelodi Sundowns. The son of former Orlando Pirates player Julias Sono, and nephew to Jomo Sono, Mokwena hails from a footballing family and started his professional coaching career in the youth systems at Silver Stars, before serving as an assistant manager at Mamelodi Sundowns and Pirates. In 2019, he became interim manager of the latter club, holding the position for five months, before being appointed as the head coach at Chippa United the following year. Early career. Mokwena's first notable foray into  football came at Silver Stars, later known as Platinum Stars, where he honed his skills under coaches such as Steve Komphela, Cavin Johnson and Allan Freese. In 2014, he joined Mamelodi Sundowns where, after excelling with the club's development team, he was promoted to be one of manager Pitso Mosimane's assistant managers, alongside Manqoba Mngqithi and Alex Bapela. Mokwena stayed with Masandawana until 2017, helping the club win the 2016 CAF Champions League title, before taking up a role as the assistant manager to Milutin Sredojević at Orlando Pirates. Managerial career. Orlando Pirates. In August 2019, after Sredojević  unexpectedly resigned at Pirates, Mokwena was named as the new interim-manager of the club and he marked his managerial debut with a 1-0 MTN 8 defeat to Highlands Park. Over the next five months, he took charge of 14 matches, winning four, drawing five and losing five, before returning to the assistant manager's role following the appointment of Josef Zinnbauer in December. Chippa United. On 4 March 2020, Mokwena left Zinnbauer's side after being appointed as the head coach of fellow Premier Division side Chippa United on a short-term deal. However, his time with the  club was disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak, which saw the league suspended later that month, and by the end of his contract in June he had overseen just one match in charge for the season.