Quality of our league

Once upon a time we had 18 teams in our top league. Orlando Pirates went on to win what is today known as the CAF Champions league in 1995 after FIFA readmitted South Africa to international football. Bafana Bafana went on to lift the Africa Cup of Nations the following year. Our teams were producing top quality players in abundance. We had players in all the major leagues in Europe – Italy, Greece, Germany, Spain, England, Turkey, etc.

Then we decided that we needed more cup football. When we were confronted with fixture congestion, we dropped the number of clubs to 16 in the top tier league and increase the number of foreign-born players who could be fielded by one team at a time from three to five.

Ever since these changes our game has fallen behind the rest of the world. North African countries have much stronger teams than ours. Bafana struggle to qualify for major tournaments. We no longer have players in the top leagues of Europe like in the past.

It is worth noting, however, that at developmental level, where the abovementioned factors do not apply, our junior teams have performed excellently over the years.

We are failing to achieve the same with Bafana because of the obstacles that could be removed easily if our game was run by people who have the nation’s interest at heart.