After Ronwen Williams, what next? 2022 Fifa World Cup star concerned with bleak goalkeeping future for Bafana Bafana - 'Nine of PSL clubs have foreign first-choice goalkeepers'

Ronwen Williams has been doing well for Bafana Bafana as well as the defending Premier Soccer League champions.

At 33 years old, he is at the top of his game and remains South Africa's key player in the goalkeeping department.

Sage Stephens, Sipho Chaine, Ricardo Goss, and Veli Mothwa are some of the custodians who have recently been made part of the Hugo Broos team.

Recently, Premier Soccer League teams have been signing foreign goalkeepers.

There is no young custodian who has been consistently commanding a starting berth in the league.

Sage Stephens of Stellenbosch and Sipho Chaine of Orlando Pirates are the only ones who have been playing consistently.

Kaizer Chiefs' Bruce Bvuma is also getting it right at the moment.

However, SuperSport United assistant coach Andre Arendse has warned against overlooking the department, insisting it might work against Bafana Bafana in the future.

"I don't know if I've got to be careful how I say this, but I say it with all good intent; the problem we face at the moment is, and please somebody correct me if I'm wrong, that nine of our PSL clubs have foreign first-choice goalkeepers, for example," he said in a recent interview with journalists.

"And that is no disrespect to foreign goalkeepers because I think they do add value to our game, but it is a problem for us as a local South Africa because we're not placing a serious enough focus on developing young goalkeepers coming through.

"Our youngest local goalkeeper playing in the PSL at the moment – I stand corrected – is maybe Sipho Chaine, and I think he's 28-29, it's not good enough. Where are our 20-year-olds? Where are our 21-year-olds, who are playing first-team football for their clubs? So that speaks to a proper lack of development from a goalkeeping perspective," Arendse, who played for Bafana at the 2002 Fifa World Cup finals, concluded.

Williams has been missing in action for Sundowns, owing to an injury that puts the Bafana goalkeeping department in crisis ahead of the March 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

With a wide range of goalkeepers, Broos can easily get a reliable replacement. In the past, Mothwa and Chaine have made costly mistakes.

PSL teams have to find young keepers to groom to avoid a looming goalkeeping crisis for the national team.