'Disadvantage for South Africa!' Hugo Broos bemoans domestic league level after AFCON exit and warns Bafana Bafana won't improve unless more players move to Europe

Bafana Bafana were among the teams in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), with the majority of players in the squad plying their trade in the Premier Soccer League.

South Africa's overseas contingent had Siyabonga Ngezana, who plays for FCSB in Romania, Burnley's Lyle Foster, Tylon Smith of Queens Park Rangers, Samukelo Kabini from Molde FK, midfielder Siphephelo Sithole, who is contracted to CD Tondela, Elias Mokwana (Al Hazem), Shandre Campbell (Club Brugge), and Mohau Nkota (El Ettifaq).

The remaining players were based in the local league, with nine coming from Orlando Pirates and five from the defending Mzansi top-flight champions, Mamelodi Sundowns.

It is not enough, according to coach Hugo Broos, who insists that for Bafana Bafana to perform well, players have to compete at the highest level abroad.

He said this after the country's elimination from AFCON by Cameroon, who will now play Egypt in the quarter-final. 

Broos now insists that playing in the Premier Soccer League is not enough and that players should be given a chance to play in Europe, where they will become better by playing in tough competitions.

“There are teams at the Cup of Nations with players who play in Europe. We mostly don’t have them, and that is a disadvantage for South Africa,” The Bafana Bafana head coach told reporters. 

“Cameroon is a brand-new team, and when you see where those players are playing, there’s a guy, the striker Christian Kofane, who’s playing for Bayer Leverkusen. He’s 19 years old. 

“So this is the opportunity our players need to have because they have to be challenged more," the 73-year-old added.

 "I said from the beginning that the level of the PSL compared with the level we had in the last weeks is very different, and you can only close that gap when you have players who are also playing in very difficult competitions. 

“So let’s hope that players in the future have more opportunities to go to Europe and play in those very difficult competitions and face those challenges, because that should help this team enormously.

“It’s not because you play once against Argentina or once against Ghana that suddenly your level will go up. No, this is something else. But yeah, what can we do? We just hope they get the opportunity and make the step," Broos concluded.

Meanwhile, coach Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie insists Broos is going nowhere despite calls of replacement owing to the team's unsatisfying performance in AFCON.

He insists the tactician has done well to lift the country's football and nothing warrants his exit, reiterating that he will be in charge at the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and the United States.

“Go back a few years; Hugo Broos truly woke up Bafana Bafana," he said in his interview with the media.  

"I hear people are saying, ‘Now it’s time for Hugo Broos to go … to go where? Hugo Broos is going nowhere. Hugo Broos is going to Mexico [to the FIFA World Cup]; that is where he is going. This mentality of constantly changing coaches is unacceptable. 

"The national team is not a joke. 

“Hugo Broos has come in and put in a solid structure in our national team. Furthermore, how do you blame the coach if players don’t score?” McKenzie added.

Meanwhile, the tactician has promised to work on the shortcomings that led to his team's elimination from AFCON in the Round of 16. He further refused to comment about the changes he made in his starting XI in the loss to Cameroon.

“I will not give a comment on that [the starting XI]. And secondly, it’s not strange that when players are replaced, some are not happy. I am not going to make declarations through emotions or frustration," Broos told the media. 

“When you are emotional, sometimes you say things you regret afterwards, so I will not do that. We will make a detailed evaluation in the upcoming days and weeks of what was good and not good in Morocco at AFCON. 

"We will see what we need to change and what not to change because in six months there is the World Cup, and we need to be ready for that," Broos added.