Chippa United captain Stanley Nwabali remains optimistic that the team can turn their fortunes around in the 2025/26 South African league despite struggling at the bottom of the table, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Chilli Boys are locked at the bottom of the standings with seven points in 12 matches. Their poor run of one win, four draws and seven defeats has seen them go through three coaches this season.

Sinethemba Badela stepped down due to disagreements with sporting director Sinesipho Mali earlier in the campaign.

Musa Nyatama, who was only in charge for a few matches, was fired before Luc Eymael took over in August, yet things didn’t improve, and he was also released by the club.

Now Vusumuzi Vilakazi is in charge, and Nwabali is positive about their situation.

“You know, I’m the captain, and what we’re experiencing is something that happens in football; it’s not something that has never happened before,” Nwabali told Sowetan.

“Sometimes, in a season, you start badly; sometimes, you start well. I feel like this campaign has not been good for the team, but I’m giving the fans hope we will get better.”

The Chilli Boys have two tough matches against Soweto giants Orlando Pirates next Tuesday, November 25 and Kaizer Chiefs on December 3 before the Africa Cup of Nations recess.

Nwabali, 29, has featured for the club 11 times in the league this season, keeping just clean sheets with a 56.8 per cent save rate.

Having missed the 2026 World Cup ticket with the Super Eagles, the keeper will also hope to make a statement at the AFCON, which will be played from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026 in Morocco.

He was a crucial part of Nigeria’s second-place finish at the last edition in the Ivory Coast, where they lost 2-1 to the hosts on the final.