JOHANNESBURG – PSL chairman Irvin Khoza believes the league has a sizeable number of players participating in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations due to the continuous improvement as a brand.
In total, there are 50 PSL registered players in Egypt as the Premiership division is represented by 46 players, while four are from the second-tier.
On Wednesday, the Group A encounter between Zimbabwe and Uganda was arguably the most-sought after match for the day by the supporters of the PSL.
Granted, the Warriors of Zimbabwe are from the Southern African region and have a huge population rate in South Africa, but the majority of supporters that were glued on their television screens were there to catch a glimpse of some of their PSL stars.
The Zimbabweans have 13 players from the PSL, while the Cranes of Uganda have two, Mamelodi Sundowns’ goalkeeper and Africa’s No 1 Denis Onyango and Cape Town City’s Ällan Kateregga, while Godfrey Walusimbi’s was at Kaizer Chiefs last season.
Denis Onyango in action for Uganda during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Finals. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
“We have a product,” Khoza said. “In fact, whatever you do around the world in nowadays, you don’t think parochial. The world is about the global play and can you be the player.
“And if the content is not good enough, you cannot attract anything internationally.
Therefore, our content (the PSL) remains competitive and attracts excitement. When we went to Gabon in 2012, Zambia won the Afcon with about seven or eight players from the high division. This shows that we are combat ready and the environment makes them ready for any competition.”
Despite having assumed those achievements as an organisation, Khoza says they can’t afford to rest on their laurels as there has to be gradual improvement, especially scientifically.
“We are confident that what we are doing is going in the right direction, hence we are trying to improve everything, especially the scientific support.
“The differentiator all over the world is the scientific support of the technical teams. If you don’t have that, then you don’t have the quality that I am talking about,” Khoza added.