South African football has rarely had a time when it has not been under heavy foreign influence.
That was certainly true back when the whites-only National Football League was launched in 1959, dominated by expats from Britain. Once multi-racial football began in the late 70s, it was still players from England and elsewhere in Europe who dominated the foreign ranks.
In 1983 the trend began to change, with a sudden influx from Malawi and then the best from Lesotho and what was then called Swaziland. Economic expediency trumped the sports boycott.
When the democratic era was later ushered in, Zimbabwean and Zambian began to flood in, and within years, the National Soccer League and then the Premier Soccer League had become a veritable United Nations of players from around the continent.
It has become even more international of late, with Eastern Europeans, South Americans, the odd Japanese, and more recently, an exotic footballer hailing from the Solomon Islands, former Maritzburg United winger Micah Lea'alafa.
THE BEST GOAL SCORERS
Clubs have always looked primarily for top strikers to deliver goals and a look at the list of leading goal scorers over the last quarter-century attests to the foreign influence in the game.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2023-Ausgabe von Soccer Club.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2023-Ausgabe von Soccer Club.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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WORLD BEATER
MANCHESTER CITY AND SPAIN MIDFIELDER RODRI HAS BEEN COLLECTING TROPHIES IN HUGE NUMBERS IN RECENT SEASONS AND IS A KEY MAN FOR CLUB AND COUNTRY
WHO ARE CLUB BRUGGE?
Shandre Campbell has recently joined Club Brugge in Belgium, but he is not the first South African to play there. Who are the team known as the Blue-Black?
LOST ART
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE GREAT FREE-KICK TAKERS IN FOOTBALL?
BACK TO THE START
HAASHIM DOMINGO HAS A FRESH START AT CAPE TOWN CITY, WHERE HE COULD TAKE THE LEAGUE BY STORM, ACCORDING TO HIS NEW BOSS
FROM BADGERS TO BRISTOL
SOUTH AFRICA'S LOSS IS THE UK'S GAIN WITH DYNAMIC ROMANEY PINNOCK HAVING TAKEN CHARGE AS THE HEAD OF BRISTOL CITY WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
READY TO PLUNDER
SELAELO RASEBOTJA HAS ARRIVED AT ORLANDO PIRATES WITH BIG EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
CITY OF GOLD
THE GAUTENG PROVINCE, MORE SPECIFICALLY JOHANNESBURG HAVE PRODUCED THE RICHEST RESERVOIR OF TOP FOOTBALLING TALENT FOR SOUTH AFRICA
LONG-TERM TARGET
KAIZER CHIEFS ENDED THEIR LONG PURSUIT OF DEFENDER RUSHWIN DORTLEY WHEN HE WAS SIGNED IN THE LAST TRANSFER WINDOW
REMEMBERING SENZO
THIS MONTH MARKS 10 YEARS SINCE ORLANDO PIRATES AND BAFANA BAFANA GOALKEEPER SENZO MEYIWA WAS TRAGICALLY KILLED
MIRACLE MAN
QUIET AND UNASSUMING, XABI ALONSO HAS EMERGED AS ONE OF THE TOP COACHES IN WORLD FOOTBALL