The SA Football Association (Safa) says it has “finalised” its deal with the new Bafana Bafana coach.

Safa‚ in a statement posted on its official website late on Friday afternoon‚ did not reveal the name of the new coach to replace Molefi Ntseki‚ who the association announced was released from his contract on March 31.

Safa did not give a specific day for when they would make their official announcement on the new coach‚ but did say it would be “next week”.

TimesLIVE reported on Friday that‚ according to sources‚ AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy had agreed in principle to take the Bafana job. However‚ there were potential stumbling blocks to be ironed out before any deal could be concluded‚ including persuading AmaZulu chairman Sandile Zungu to release McCarthy‚ and reaching a settlement on paying out his club contract.

Safa’s statement read: “The South African Football Association (SAFA) has finalised outstanding matters with the new incoming coach and the announcement will be made next week.”

Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe was quoted as saying: “We have concluded and finalised all the outstanding matters and we will announce the new coach next week.

“The two parties (SAFA and new coach) have resolved all matters and what remains now is to officially announce him next week.”

Sources have revealed Safa was close to concluding a deal to reappoint former Bafana‚ Portugal and Real Madrid manager Carlos Queiroz‚ but the deal fell through.

This left the association needing to secure a viable alternative under considerable time pressure given Bafana’s 2022 World Cup qualifying Group A campaign begins with their match against Zimbabwe in Harare on the weekend of June 5 to 7.

Safa had Tweeted last week it would make the announcement after its technical committee confirmed its five nominations in a national executive committee (NEC) meeting at Safa House on Saturday‚ but late last Friday night said the announcement had been postponed.

The five-name shortlist presented on Saturday by the technical committee to the NEC‚ according to sources‚ consisted of Queiroz‚ McCarthy‚ Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane‚ Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt‚ and either Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard or Belgian Hugo Broos.