Former Bafana Bafana defenders Aaron Mokoena and David Nyathi will be tasked to monitor South African players overseas.
The South African Football Association [SAFA] has set its sights on bringing on board players that are eligible to represent the country at all levels.
According to SAFA president Danny Jordaan, there are 65 players scattered overseas who qualify to don the South African jersey.
FORMER BAFANA BAFANA DUO TO LEAD SCOUTING TEAM
Some of the players were born overseas to a parent or parents of South African descent.
“The question of a lot of players that are playing abroad – some we have lost to other countries. We never had a clear policy or database to monitor such players,” Jack Maluleka, SAFA technical committee chair,” told FARPost.
“Now what we have done as the technical committee is to make sure that former players – David Nyathi and Aaron Mokoena – will lead the scouting team.”
He explained the role of the former national team duo. The duo would cast their eyes on players eligible to play for youth national teams as well.
“We want them to make sure they go to all these countries and check our players young as they are. The idea is to make sure they play for our junior national teams starting from Under 17 and Under 20.”
He believes the move will ensure South Africa has “a strong Bafana Bafana”.
Maluleka added that they had witnessed other African countries benefit from drafting players born overseas.
LOTS OF PLAYERS IN EUROPE
Morocco, who became the first African country to reach the semi-final of the FIFA World Cup, had 13 players born in Europe.
“We have seen the teams that played well [at the World Cup] are teams that have lots of players in Europe. That’s why we don’t want to make such a mistake of relying on local players only.
“We cannot peak that standard because the experience and skills they have acquired outside we need to utilise that,” he concluded.
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