Pantev leads GU to eighth league title
Kabelo Boranabi | Tuesday May 20, 2025 13:28
The Bulgarian had to do it on his second job in the local league after an abrupt dismissal on his first. Pantev was announced as Orapa United head coach on July 1st last year. He arrived with less fanfare at Itekeng Stadium with a less traceable championship winning record.
The gaffer's resumè showed he had spent much of his coaching career in the lower leagues in Europe before having stints in Sierra Leone and Cameroon. The Orapa job was his only third in the continent. Faced with the CAF Confederations Cup assignment, Pantev quickly became the club’s best ever coach in the continental competition.
He led the team to the group stages of the CAF Confederations Cup, a first in the club’s 13-year- existence. The Ostriches however failed to secure a single victory and recorded two draws while losing four times. The team had one of the worst defensive record in the group stage, letting in 13 goals while they scored just once.
Pantev’s introduction of junior players in to the senior squad won him a fair share of the Orapa faithful. The team had among others Kamogelo Moloi, Ratlhogo Ratlhogo, Atamelang Lesogo and winter signing, Oarabile Sekwati dishing out impressive displays in the continental competition. Pantev’s departure was shocker on December 1st last year after having a promising start to the FNB Premiership contention. The gaffer had fallen out with the club management following the team’s 6-0 away trip to USM Alger in the last game of the CAF Confederations Cup group stages.
The Ostriches under him won twice, played to a draw on three occasions while recording a single loss. The Reds recruited him late January as Pontsho Moloi returned to Mochudi Centre Chiefs. At the time, the Reds were just behind in the championship that heavily featured their cross town rivals, Township Rollers, TAFIC and Jwaneng Galaxy.
The Reds under Pantev had an unpleasant early exit in the Orange FA Cup as they bowed out in the last 32 round at the hands of second tier side, Holy Ghost, as cup competitions continued to haunt Pantev. But now with the focus fully on the league contest, GU under the 48-year-old gaffer had a defining last third run. The team suffered a single defeat at the hands of their former coach, Moloi’s Chiefs but went on to win eight of the remaining nine games. GU in the run scored 21 goals, conceded five and kept six clean sheets. The icing on the cake was the weekend’s defining contest against Galaxy.
The gaffer said he only had to lift the confidence in the players since the team was already flooded with championship winning quality. “I do not want to talk about the period before me. I can only talk about the last five months. I think what I found here are very good players, individual players with high quality. I think they have a good future but they had lost their confidence (and) I do not know why, maybe because they had some unsuccessful results in a row,” said Pantev.
He becomes the only second foreign coach to win the championship in their debut after Nikola Kavazovic with Rollers in the last decade while he has also lead the Reds to their eighth league title.