PSL offers good option for our players

Though South Africa is not the best football nation in Africa, it offers the most attractive football league, the Premier Soccer League [PSL]. Many African talents, who have not got chance to go for professional football in Europe, try their lucky in PSL. Many youngsters from Zambia, Benin, Mozambique, Botswana, Uganda and others are plying their trade in the PSL. The PSL is the most professional league in Africa. It is intensely followed and the quality of the local game keeps improving as demonstrated by the increasing number of premier soccer league players in exile among the glamorous European clubs. Many youngsters from Botswana play in there. The youngsters have helped their country to qualify for the first ever African nation’s cup. Botswana was the first nation to qualify for the 2012 African nation’s cup. Likewise, it could be very important for our young and senior players to try professional football first in South Africa than rushing to Europe. Rwanda has longstanding history for local players failing professional trials in Europe. Renowned Players like Mugiraneza, Haruna Niyonzima and many others have gone to Europe several times without success. I could advise our young players or even seniors to think about the PSL where players earn $1000 a week rather than rushing to European clubs with a higher pay but with difficult qualification conditions. In PSL there is an intense competition in skill and physical ability. A successful player in the premier soccer league fits well in many of the national team squads here in Africa. It is also a good league especially for youngsters as it improves competitiveness in terms of skill and physical condition of a player. Premier Soccer League clubs possess good infra-structure and facilities that enable good player development in physical preparedness. This important factor is missing in many African countries. Lack of physical preparedness has been the basis of failure for many local players trying their maiden lucky in Europe. This is why players like Karekezi Olivier, Saidi Abed Makasi and a pool of other players of our local origin have had limited success in Europe. Players Razak Omotoyossi of Benin and Steven Pienaar offers good example for PSL breeds. The duo has contributed a lot to the success of their national teams at international stage. In the English Premier League there is high marketing of the game and this offers exposure to in-form players and valuable talents to European clubs. The Premier Soccer League attracts more soccer scouts than any other league in Africa given their internationally recognized broadcasting rights. I think it could be wise for players like Mugiraneza to think more about joining Ajax Cape Town than Cologne football club of Germany. Cologne has players of World Cup caliber that are nowhere comparable to our local stars, who have not stepped in any world wide organized soccer event. In Cologne you compete with experienced and world class players like Petit, Podolski and Novakovic of Slovenia where as in Ajax Cape Town you meet a cream of young Africans from various countries. Teams like Ajax Cape Town and Bloemfontein Celtic have roots in Ajax Amsterdam of Holland and CELTIC Glasgow of Scotland. Therefore, you can imagine the importance being a PSL member. Our national team also needs young players with enough competitive football, and PSL is one of the lucrative soccer leagues in Africa with high level of competition. Competition in South African football is organized in a national league plus a plethora of knock-out cups that are followed with passion by paint-daubed, costumed, whistling and cheering fans. Mercifully, the country has been spared the spectra of football hooliganism as it is in most of European football nations. Actually many soccer analysts have placed the PSL league a head of the Belgian league featuring clubs like Anderlecht and Standard de liege. Ends