Eric Tinkler (born 30 July 1970) is a South African football coach and former player who manages

Cape Town City A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a Hood (headgear), hood in t ...

Early and personal life

Tinkler was born in

Roodepoort Roodepoort is a town in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality, Roodepoort became part of the Johannesburg municipality in the late 1990s, along with Randburg and Sandton. Johannesburg's most famous botanica ...

Club career

Tinkler played club football for

Wits University The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

, União de Tomar, Vitória,

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitan ...

, Barnsley, Caldas and

Bidvest Wits Bidvest Wits Football Club, (simply often known as Wits University F.C. or Wits) was a South African professional football club from Johannesburg which played in the Premier Soccer League the first-tier of South African league football system ...

. Tinkler moved from Italian club Cagliari to English club Barnsley on 1 July 1997 for a transfer fee of £650,000.

International career

Tinkler earned 45 caps for the South African national team between 1994 and 2001, scoring 1 goal. He was part of the South Africa squad that won the

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, ...

, playing in the final.

Coaching career

Tinkler became head coach of

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 ...

in December 2013; in May 2015 it was announced that he would continue in that role for the 2015–16 season. Tinkler left Orlando Pirates to become the first head coach of

club on 17 June 2016. On 8 June 2017 he moved to become head coach of

SuperSport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the Dstv Premiership. United is known as ''Matsats ...

. He quit in March 2018. After a spell with

Chippa United Chippa United Football Club (often known as Chilli boys or Chippa) is a South African professional football club based in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province, having previously being based in Nyanga suburb of the city of Cape Town. The club's ...

, he became manager of

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: 20 ...

in January 2019. He left the club in November 2020. He returned as manager of

on 24 May 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Cape Town City :Telkom Knockout Final Supersport United :MTN 8 Cup Final

References

1970 births Living people People from Roodepoort Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Italy South African soccer players South Africa men's international soccer players South African expatriate soccer players South African expatriate sportspeople in England South African expatriate sportspeople in Portugal South African expatriate sportspeople in Italy Bidvest Wits F.C. players Cagliari Calcio players Barnsley F.C. players Premier League players Primeira Liga players Serie A players 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players White South African people Caldas S.C. players Orlando Pirates F.C. managers Cape Town City F.C. (2016) managers South African soccer managers SuperSport United F.C. managers Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Chippa United F.C. managers Sportspeople from Gauteng {{SouthAfrica-footy-bio-stub