South Africa coach Hugo Broos will rely heavily on locals at the 2026 World Cup – bucking a trend among African qualifiers to choose Europe-based players.
The 74-year-old former Belgium defender, who retires from football after the global showcase, has 25 South African Premiership players in a 32-man provisional squad that will be trimmed this week.
There are no locals in the squads of Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Senegal, while Tunisia selected just six.
South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana and shock 2022 World Cup semifinalists Morocco have still to name their final squads.
Apart from South Africa, only Egypt, with 18 locals in a preliminary group, will go to North America for the global tournament with a majority of home-based players.
South Africa are in Group A with co-hosts Mexico, Czech Republic and South Korea. Mini-league winners and runners-up qualify for the round of 32 and the team finishing third could join them.
Broos, a full-back who helped Belgium finish fourth at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, has relied largely on local talent since taking charge in 2021 as few South Africans play abroad.
Good salaries and working conditions at home are a factor. The Premiership is the richest national league in Africa.
Popularly known as Bafana Bafana (The Boys), South Africa surpassed expectations at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, finishing third.
However, South Africa flopped this year at the latest AFCON, making a timid last-16 exit to a young Cameroon side.
In March, fellow World Cup qualifiers Panama visited the republic for World Cup warm-up matches. The Central Americans drew in Durban and won in Cape Town.
After the squad announcement in Pretoria at the Union Buildings – the official seat of the South African government – South Africa host Nicaragua in Soweto on Friday in a final warm-up.
Apart from wanting to take Bafana beyond the group stage for the first time in four appearances, Broos hopes the World Cup can serve as a 'shop window' for South African talent.
'DISADVANTAGE'
"When we face other African nations in the World Cup or AFCON, we are up against teams packed with footballers from European clubs," he told reporters.
"That is a disadvantage for South Africa. There is a gap between the (local) Premiership and Europe. I hope in future more players here will have opportunities to play abroad.
"To narrow the gap you need South Africans playing in very difficult conditions. If they can succeed in Europe, South Africa will become a powerful football nation."
When Broos arrived in South Africa in 2021, he was shocked to see overweight footballers, and many players drinking alcohol ahead of matches.
"Consuming beer after qualifying for the World Cup is fine. But you cannot do that while preparing for a match," said Broos.
Among the 32 contenders for World Cup places, only five are based in Europe. Another two are with Major League Soccer clubs in the United States.
None of five South Africans in Europe will be at a club in one of the top five European leagues next season after Burnley, whose squad includes striker Lyle Foster, were relegated.
Centre-back Ime Okon is with German second-tier outfit Hannover and full-back Samukele Kabini lines up for Molde in Norway.
Midfielder Sphephelo Sithole plays for Tondela in Portugal and striker Thapelo Maseko for Cypriot club AEL Limassol.
The US-based duo are both defenders – Mbekezeli Mbokazi of Chicago Fire and Olwethu Makhanya from Philadelphia Union.
Mbokazi is not just an emerging centre-back star, he packs a powerful left-foot shot from long range.
The 20-year-old upset Broos this year by arriving late for a training camp, which triggered claims of racism against the coach.
After the coach and player met, Broos said: "He (Mbokazi) is a black guy, but he will come out of my room as a white guy."
Broos later admitted his choice of words was wrong, adding "some may consider me a good coach, others a bad coach, but no one would call me a racist".
The Belgian was also unhappy that Mbokazi chose an American club rather than a European one, and called the mixed-race agent of the defender "a nice little woman who thinks she knows football".
That led to allegations of sexism, and another apology from the coach who guided Cameroon to the 2017 AFCON title despite the absence of several stars.
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