Dilemma for officials as influx of foreign goalkeepers ‘killing’ S. Africa’s local talent

In Johannesburg

Remember Itumeleng Khune, the charismatic and talented goalkeeper who once gave hope to South Africans?

Where are the next Khunes?

This question is at the heart of a growing debate surrounding the influx of foreign goalkeepers in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL). While some argue that these imports elevate the league’s quality, others fear they are curtailing the emergence of local goalkeeping talents.
In recent years, the SA football landscape has seen a surge in foreign goalkeepers, with clubs increasingly opting for experienced talent from abroad, mostly from African countries.

Some exceptional foreign shot-stoppers who have left their mark on the league include the legendary Nigerian giant Williams Okpara and Patrick Tignyemb, who patrolled the goalmouth for Bloemfontein Celtic.

The list of these stellar goalkeepers wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Mamelodi Sundowns duo of Denis Onyango, the Ugandan wall, and the vastly experienced Zambian Kennedy Mweene, who once held the prestigious title of Africa’s number one goalie.

Adding to this illustrious company are Richard Ofori, the Ghanaian shot-stopper who served Orlando Pirates with distinction, and Peter Leeuwenburgh, the Dutch custodian who brought his international experience to Cape Town City FC.

These foreign stars have graced the PSL with their talent and enriched the league’s tapestry with their diverse skill sets and unwavering dedication.

The 2023/24 DStv Premiership season has seen a wave of international talent guarding the nets, with a staggering 10 clubs relying on foreign goalkeepers.

Eight of these foreign custodians stand tall as their teams’ number ones. These clubs include Richards Bay (Salim Magoola; Uganda), Chippa United (Stanley Nwabali; Nigeria), Golden Arrows (Ismail Watenga; Uganda), Sekhukhune United (Badre Ali Sangare; Cote d’Ivoire), Polokwane City (Manuel Sapunga; Equatorial Guinea), Moroka Swallows (Daniel Akpeyi; Nigeria), TS Galaxy (Fiacre Ntwari; Rwanda), and Royal AM (Hugo Nyame; Cameroon).

'Glaring neglect'

Bafana Bafana legend and 1996 Afcon champion Andre Arendse has thrown down the gauntlet, expressing his concern over the dwindling number of South African goalkeepers in the DStv Premiership.

Arendse believes this is a direct consequence of the ‘glaring neglect’ of nurturing and developing goalkeeping talent within the South African football landscape.

“I believe not enough work is being done. Grant Johnson (SuperSport United and Bafana goalkeeper coach) and I do a lot of good work in isolated structures,” Arendse told Nation Sport.

“For example, at SuperSport United, we have a clear and distinctive pole line of goalkeepers coming through at our club, but we can’t go everywhere.

“First and foremost, you need to educate goalkeeper coaches to a level required to groom these young goalkeepers to specific standards that can compete with your foreign goalkeepers already playing in the PSL.

“There is no plan for developing local goalkeepers, and having too many foreign goalkeepers hampers the development because there isn’t enough pipeline and enough platforms for local goalkeepers to play.”

To help solve the goalkeeping crisis in South Africa while also creating healthy competition for the number one spot in Bafana Bafana, Arendse suggests that South Africa should emulate Egypt and ban the signing of foreign goalkeepers by DStv Premiership clubs.

Diluting standards

And while South Africa’s topflight has several top goalkeepers, Bafana coach Hugo Broos often struggles whenever he has to select goalies as most of those playing are not South Africans.

Broos has sometimes been forced to call up goalkeepers who are not playing in their respective clubs.

Except for Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns star Ronwen Williams, AmaZulu’s Veli Mothwa, Sage Stephens of Stellenbosch FC, and Bruce Bvuma of Kaizer Chiefs Swallows, other local goalkeepers have struggled to establish themselves as number ones for their clubs.

“Should we ban foreign goalkeepers from playing in the PSL or restrict it to only locally based goalkeepers? You could do that if that’s what the league and South African Football Association decide like they have done in Egypt, where they have banned foreign goalkeepers from playing in the local league,” added Arendse.

“But then again, do we have local goalkeepers who can replace them (foreign goalies)? The truth is you probably could replace them, but they would not be of the same high standard, so you are going to be diluting the overall goalkeeping standard in South African football until we, as a goalkeeping collective, need to come up with solutions to develop these goalkeepers to come and play in the PSL.

“The foreign goalkeepers are bringing a lot of skill and talent that improves the game in the PSL, but on the flipside, we have to ask ourselves, where does the future of goalkeeping in South Africa lie? For our national team, for example.

“When you look at the 16 teams in the Premiership, and you go through correctly, you will find that seven of those local teams have seven South African goalkeepers as their number ones and the rest of them all have foreign goalkeepers as their number ones so that already outweighs the local goalkeeping structures in South African football.

“But this does not mean Ronwen does not have competition. Goalkeepers like Veli Mothwa and Ricardo Goss are up there. And let’s not write off Darren Keet because he has played at the highest level, has represented the country, and is highly experienced.

“There is a lot of good quality when it comes to competition for Ronwen, and that’s always needed. They are not keeping the number comfortable, which brings out the best in someone like Ronwen.

“I speak from experience as it was the same with me back in the days when top goalkeepers like Hans Vonk were challenging me at the time, Brian Baloyi came a bit later, Roger De Sa, and Steve Crowley, these are top goalkeepers that always kept me on my toes.”

In contrast, Bafana Bafana’s second-choice goalkeeper, Mothwa, paints a rosier picture of the goalkeeping landscape in South Africa. 

He champions the quality of South African goalkeepers gracing the DStv Premiership and extends his praise to their foreign counterparts.

Sense of nostalgia

Mothwa’s perspective suggests a potential abundance of homegrown and international talent within the league’s goalkeeping ranks.

The AmaZulu goalie said: “Quality goalkeeping in the PSL, it’s top-notch. We have goalkeepers in the PSL so it is a competition because even when you go to the list of goalkeepers who had the most clean sheets at AFCON, Nwabali and Ronza [Ronwen], Ronwen were there. Ronza was number 1, and Nwabali number 2.

Adding further dimension to the goalkeeping debacle, South African football journalist Tokelo Mokhesi expresses a sense of nostalgia. He laments that the country is no longer producing goalkeepers of the same calibre as those legendary figures who graced the pitches in the past.

Mokhesi says there is a decline in the quality of emerging talent, hinting at systemic issues within the development of South Africa’s future goalkeepers.

“We don’t produce top quality goalkeepers like in the past; you look at Kaizer Chiefs, they used to have top goalies come through their development, the likes of Khune, and they also had Brian Baloyi and Rowen Fernández. We also had the late Senzo Meyiza of Pirates, Moeneeb Josephs, Hans Vonk and Andre Arendse,” he said.

“Some of these goalkeepers I mentioned played in World Cups, like Khune, Arendse and Josephs, so I don’t necessarily think that the foreign goalkeepers in SA are the best; it is just a matter of SA no longer producing top talent.

“Our local goalkeepers should do better than what they are currently doing because, in the league, you have Bvuma, who is inconsistent and Mothwa, who is not even playing at club level.

“It goes back to development, and maybe the South African Football Association should look into coming up with a goalkeeper’s academy or look into what SuperSport United is doing right as they had Williams as a young boy and look at him now.”

South Africa Football Association (SAFA) Technical Director Walter Steenbok revealed that the ‘looming goalkeeping crisis’ is a matter that is already on his desk. Steenbok says they are already monitoring the situation to gauge the impact of foreign goalies on the local game.

“As much as we have a responsibility to develop the game, not only for South Africa but also for the African continent, we need to be mindful of the effects and the huge risk that this will have,” said Steenbok.

“We’re going to monitor it this year because there is nothing that we’ve done in the technical division that we have not monitored. We’ve monitored this, and if we need to intervene, we’ll come back and intervene.”

Interestingly, the women’s league – the Hollywoodbets Super League – arguably the best on the continent has no foreign goalkeepers. SAFA banned clubs from signing foreign goalies for the 2024/25 season “because of its impact on Banyana Banyana”.

Steenbok says a decision will be taken on foreign goalies at the end of the season.