Why Nigeria Shouldn’t Copy South Africa’s Reliance on Local League Players
- Nigeria have been warned against emulating South Africa in terms of relying on local league players in the national team
- The Super Eagles and Bafana Bafana are known to be rivals in African national team football, with the latter basing their team on players playing in South Africa
- A football analyst, while speaking to Briefly News, explained why Nigeria can't emulate the same approach from Mzansi
Nigeria and South Africa are two powerhouses in African football, with the former regarded by many as the giants of the continent.
Source: Getty Images
Both countries were placed in the same group in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, but it was South Africa that secured automatic qualification for the global football event, while the Super Eagles settled for second place and are set to battle it out in the playoffs in November.
Bafana Bafana have a squad dominated by local talents, compared to Nigeria, whose players mostly ply their trade in Europe.
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There have been talks about Nigeria taking a leaf out of South Africa's book and infusing NPFL players into the national team setup.
Nigeria vs South Africa: Local league players
Football analyst Kingsley Akpan, in a chat with Briefly News, shared his thoughts on the idea of structuring the national team with mostly local league players.
The Nigerian journalist stated that he was not a fan of building a national team primarily with local league stars. He also referenced the England national team, noting that two of their biggest stars play outside the English Premier League.
“I don't want to buy into all of this ‘structure your team or let the foundation or the springboard of your national team be your domestic league’ – I am not buying into all of that,” he said.
“Two of the big players England has are not playing in the English Premier League – Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. It is good for us to structure our league, but it's not a must to select players from the NPFL, except in positions where they are the best and better than what we can bring in from abroad.”
Source: Getty Images
Akpan claimed Nigeria cannot learn anything from South Africa in terms of players, as Nigeria has an edge when it comes to player quality.
“We can't learn anything from South Africa in terms of players, because Nigeria have better players than they do. If you pick a first XI for Nigeria and then the next XI, they would still be better than South Africa's best XI,” he added.
“In our World Cup qualifying group – Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda – if they put together an all-star team comprising the best players from all the countries, Nigeria would top all of them. So we should qualify from the group.”
Bafana drop in latest FIFA rankings
Briefly News also reported that Bafana Bafana have slipped up in the latest FIFA rankings despite qualifying for the World Cup.
The South African national team dropped places on the global ranking while still retaining their previous position in Africa.
Source: Briefly News
