Gordon Igesund (born 22 July 1956) is a former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player and coach who was most recently the manager of

Highlands Park Highlands Park Football Club was a South African professional soccer club who played in Modderfontein, Johannesburg. They were founded in 2003 as a phoenix club to the earlier Highlands Park F.C. (1959) and Highlands Park F.C. (1990) The cl ...

in the Premier Soccer League.

Early life

Igesund was born in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

to George Norman Igesund (born 1932) who Igesund was named after. His family lived in

Port Shepstone Port Shepstone is a large town situated on the mouth of the Mzimkhulu River, the largest river on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of South Africa. It is located halfway between Hibberdene and Margate and is positioned 120 km south of Durban. ...

where former

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

player

Danny Le Roux Daniel Leow Le Roux (25 November 1933 - August 2016) was a South African former footballer who played as a winger. Pre-football career He was born in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal. He was a bank clerk before he took up football. Career Le Ro ...

lived.

Coaching career

Igesund is a record-breaking coach in South Africa, having become the only man to coach four different top-flight teams to the Premier Soccer League championship. He first made his name when he led unfashionable coastal team Manning Rangers to the inaugural PSL title in the 1996/97 season. He followed this up in the 2000/01 season with another title, this time at the helm of

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a ...

giants

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

. He proved his critics wrong the very next season, taking another unfashionable team, Cape Town’s Santos, to a surprise PSL title in 2001/02. But the nomadic Igesund was soon changing his allegiance again, this time moving to

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and ...

, the satellite club of Dutch giants

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the ...

. Igesund’s time with Ajax proved rather unsuccessful and he left the team at the end of the 2005/06 season. He then replaced Sundowns' co-coaches Miguel Gamondi and

Neil Tovey Neil Robert Tovey OIS (born 2 July 1962) is a South African football coach and former player and also brother of former footballer Mark Tovey. He was born in Pretoria. He holds the record for most appearances in the National Soccer League. Ear ...

. Igesund added to his record number of PSL titles leading Sundowns to a comfortable PSL win in 2007. Igesund took over hearetained as the president d coach of

Moroka Swallows Moroka Swallows Football Club (often known as simply Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto in the city of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two ...

in November 2010. He took Swallows to second place in the 2011/12 season and received the

PSL Coach of the Season The Premier Soccer League, PSL Manager (association football), Coach of the season in South African Association football, football References

Premier Soccer League Association football manager of the year awards, South Africa South Afric ...

award for the second time. On 30 June 2012, Igesund was appointed as the South Africa national team coach on a two-year deal. Under Gordon Igesund leadership South Africa national team were knocked out in a dramatic penalty shootout defeat against

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

on 2 February 2013 after the match ended in a draw during the 2013 quarter finals. On 3 June 2014, SAFA announced that they will not be renewing his contract with the

South African national football team The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international soccer and it is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. The team's nickname is Bafana Bafana (The Boy ...

. Igesund was appointed head coach of SuperSport United in September 2014 and in November 2014 he led the team to the Telkom Knockout title. However, following a series of poor results he was fired in January 2016. Igesund was primed to take over as coach of Zambia's national team and turned down many opportunities in the interim only to find out that the federation had tended in another direction with retained president, Edgar Lungu, deciding to have a local coach. Igesund returned to Highlands Park to become there manager in October 2016, where he used to play his football. However, on 1 April 2017, Highlands Park's club director Sinky Mnisi confirmed that Igesund had been fired with only four matches remaining in the 2016/17 season. Igesund was shocked upon hearing the news and he responded that the club "were on track with our plan and only one point off the tally we had marked out at this stage."

Coaching honours

* 1992 NSL Second Division champion ( D'Alberton Callies) * 1996/97 PSL champion ( Manning Rangers) * 2000/01 PSL champion (

) * 2001/02 PSL champion ( Santos) * 2000 BP Top Eight Cup winner (

) * 2006/07 PSL champion ( Sundowns) * 2007 SAA Supa 8 winner ( Sundowns) * 2014 Telkom Knockout (

SuperSport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional association football, football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the South African Premier Div ...

)

Personal

Igesund's ancestry can be traced as far back as 1752 in Stokkset Møre og Romsdal, Norway. His great-grandfather and great-grandmother and Isak Mathinus Isaksen Igesund (12 October 1851 in Igesund, Herøy - 1928 in

) and Dorthe Petrine Sorendsdtr Brekke (3 February 1853 in Brekke, Ørsta, Møre og Romsdal - 1897 in

) arrived as part of the 229 Marburg Norwegian Settlers who sailed on the "Lapland" from

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...

departing on 14 July 1882 and arriving on 29 August 1882 at the

Umzimkulu River The Mzimkulu River is a river in South Africa. In the past, the Mzimkulu formed part of the border between Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Presently this river is part of the Mvoti to Umzimkulu Water Management Area. In late February o ...

, Port Shepstone to settle in Marburg and build the Norwegian Settlers Church which still exists today.

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

origin surnames were given by the area they were born in. Igesund's ancestors are from Igesund, Møre og Romsdal, a small farming community island near Ålesund.ancestry24.com/gordon-igesund-bafana-coach/ His Austria-born son Grant Igesund (born in 1982) is also a retired professional footballer who played as a striker for

, Manning Rangers and

Maritzburg United Maritzburg United is a South African football club based in the city of Pietermaritzburg that currently plays in the Premier Soccer League. Honours *First Division Coastal Stream champions: 2007–08 *First Division Championship Play-offs: 200 ...

among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Igesund, Gordon 1956 births FC Admira Wacker Mödling players Association football forwards Living people Sportspeople from Durban South African people of Norwegian descent South African soccer managers South Africa national soccer team managers South African soccer players South African expatriate soccer players Expatriate footballers in Austria White South African people AmaZulu F.C. players Durban Bush Bucks players Grazer AK players Orlando Pirates F.C. managers Ajax Cape Town F.C. managers Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. managers Maritzburg United F.C. managers Free State Stars F.C. managers Moroka Swallows F.C. managers 2013 Africa Cup of Nations managers

Early life

Coaching career

Coaching honours

Personal

See also

References