Botswana’s Premiership champions, Jwaneng Galaxy FC, have strongly denied reports that they were pursuing former African Stars coach, Ronny Kanalelo. 

These reports suggested Kanalelo was in line to succeed Morena Ramoreboli, who was recently appointed head coach of Botswana’s senior men's national team, nicknamed the Zebras.

Kanalelo is currently without a club after leaving African Stars last month. Despite rumours linking him to Jwaneng, club officials said this was not the case.

Kanalelo led Stars to a 1-0 victory over Jwaneng Galaxy in the first leg of their Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League preliminary round tie. Although Stars lost the return leg 1-0, Galaxy advanced to the second round thanks to a 6-5 win on penalties.

The connection between Kanalelo and Galaxy began last year when Kanalelo and his African Stars impressed many Batswana during a pre-season tour to Botswana from July 17 to 22, 2024. Some people began mentioning him as a possible successor to Ramoreboli, who was already being linked to the Botswana job at the time.

During their tour, Stars played against South Africa’s SuperSport United and two Botswana teams, Gaborone United and Masitaoka United. They won all three matches: 1-0 against SuperSport, 1-0 against Gaborone United, and 2-0 against Masitaoka.

Under Kanalelo, Stars won the Debmarine Premiership and the PSTBET/Namibian Football Association (NFA) Cup. He also previously coached University of Namibia (UNAM) FC and served as assistant coach of the Brave Warriors.

Tankiso Morake, Public Relations Officer (PRO) at Jwaneng Galaxy FC, has firmly denied that the club made any attempt to recruit Kanalelo, stating that this is the first time the club has heard such a rumour.

"Hendrick Pieter de Jongh was appointed head coach of Jwaneng Galaxy Football Club in January 2025. The Dutch coach holds a UEFA A License and has experience coaching African teams. The idea of Kanalelo coming to Galaxy is news to me. We are not negotiating with anyone because we already have a coach," Morake said.