Kaizer Chiefs' award-winning defender joins former Orlando Pirates coach's ambitious top-tier club after helping Amakhosi clinch trophy

Kaizer Chiefs have loaned out their reserve side defender Xolani Cossa to Botswana Premier League side Black Lions.  

The centre-back will spend this season playing top-flight league football under former Orlando Pirates coach Owen Da Gama.

At 22, Cossa appears to be one for the future for Chiefs, given his profile as a player who knows the culture of Amakhosi.

He helped the Soweto giants win the DStv Diski Challenge last season, having made his debut for the reserve side in 2023.

This was after he had been named the Amakhosi Under-19 Player of the Season the previous year. 

At the end of the 2023/24 season, Cossa was honoured as the Chiefs DDC Players' Player of the Year.

Despite the individual awards and winning last season's DDC title, Cossa has struggled to break into the Amakhosi first team.

That is not surprising given the depth Chiefs have in central defence where there is Zitha Kwinika, Inacio Miguel, Aden McCarthy, Given Msimango and Rushwin Dortley.  

But now in Botswana working under an experienced coach like Da Gama and plying his trade in the top-tier, Cossa has a chance to improve and convince Nasreddine Nabi that he deserves to play for the Amakhosi first team.

It would be interesting to see if Dortley and Msimango will reclaim starting places at the heart of Chiefs' defence.

That would also determine if there is space for Cossa following the end of his loan stint at Black Lions.