Eighty ( 80) foreign players to grace the BFL
Mixed reactions over increase of foreign quota for clubs
Botswana Football Association ( BFA) has approved Botswana Football League’s request to increase the number of foreign quota in the league.
The previous quota allowed teams to sign only three ( 3) foreign internationals but after engagements between BFA and BFL bosses, clubs will now be able to register five ( 5) internationals.
Currently all 16 teams have foreign players in their squads and if they all can sign five ( 5) players in the future, 80 foreign internationals will compete in the local top league. Although this is a welcomed development for the local clubs there are fears that this could along the way hamper the development of local players. Initially, the reduction of the quota to three by BFA technical department was necessitated by concerns that flooding the local league with foreign internationals was proving to be a stumbling block for the development of local talents. For teams competing in the CAF competitions, the situation was even worse. In 2019 Jwaneng Galaxy were eliminated from the CAF Confederations Cup after falling 3- 2 on aggregate to Bolton City in a preliminary round.
The then Galaxy head coach, Miguel Da Costa was quick to point out that, the Mauritius side fielded at least eight foreign internationals in their lineup, whilst Galaxy were restricted to only three ( 3). “We played a club ( Bolton City) that had 6 or 7 Nigerians in their team and sometimes we think that putting only 3 foreigners in a team is good because the locals are going to develop but I do not agree with that,” the Portuguese tactician argued at the time.
Contacted for comment, BFL CEO Solomon Ramochohlwane welcomed the decision and said the move will enable local clubs competing in the CAF competitions to stand a better chance of success and also improve the standards of the league. “We are delighted for the decision that has been taken, all BFL teams are happy. This is not going to change a whole lot of what has been happening. Our CAF representatives have been at a disadvantage and this is one of the major reasons why we haven’t been competing well at CAF. Other teams in the champions’ league will feature about nine ( 9) foreign players while we only have three ( 3). This will also increase the standards of competition and subsequently uplift the standard of the league,” Ramochotlhwane responded.
The BFL CEO further highlighted that it will be optional for teams to sign foreign players and argued that the move will not affect any of the existing football equilibrium— including development.
Local football agent Bakang Moipone however brushed aside the significance of the move and said that local clubs have failed to bring in quality foreign international and fears that, soon there will be an influx of below average international players in the local top league. “We don’t bring quality foreigners into our league, I don’t see the reason to add two more additional spots because if you look back at what our clubs have been doing, there is absolutely no need. Foreign players must come here and show us what we don’t have.
You look at the top goal scoring charts, it is local players but there is a good number of foreign internationals in the league and they are all average.
How many of them are called up for national duty during international break? Most of them arrive here as free agents, which means they are rejects from where they come from and should ring alarm bells already,” Moipone discussed his points. He further added that BFA must intervene and do the checks and balances in terms of international appearances and development of foreign players before they are signed by local clubs.
This is a standard practice across many developed leagues including in Morocco and England amongst others. Botswana Television ( BTV) football analyst Baboloki Mokete echoed Moipone’s sentiments and added that the move to increase the number of foreigners will delay the progress of young local players— who are often overlooked over foreign players. “In the best interest of our football, do you honestly believe that we can attract good quality players from countries such as Ivory Coast and Cameroon, my answer is NO.
I am against this quota because already with
the three ( 3) that we were having there is nothing to suggest that we needed this increase. They [ Foreign players} also come with hefty salaries for obvious reasons but they don’t improve the standards of our league. To me this is denying young talents at their respective clubs’ an opportunity to grow,” Mokete shared. Mokete acknowledged that there has been players who have set our league alight with their incredible talents and noted that recently there has been a huge decline in terms of the players our league has attracted.