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South African football legend Sibusiso Zuma says that local players should join overseas teams so that they can learn more about the game.
“Since coming back from Europe, I have been stressing that it’s a must that players go to Europe,” the former Bafana Bafana captain said.
He stressed that players who got the opportunity to play in Europe must not hesitate to run with the chance.
“If you feel you are ready to go to Europe, you need to take that opportunity because that is where your game will grow.”
The former Orlando Pirates player was speaking to City Press during the Bundesliga Legends Tour at Balfour Mall in Johannesburg, in partnership with StarSat.
“In Europe, you learn so much in a short space of time. Our players must understand that, in a space of two years, you can learn so much overseas.”
In 2000, Zuma joined Danish top-flight club FC Copenhagen, where he went on to become a legend.
In 2001, he scored a spectacular bicycle-kick goal against Brøndby IF in the biggest match in the Danish Superliga.
The strike was voted goal of the season and later goal of the decade.
In 2013, his bicycle-kick was voted the greatest moment in the history of FC Copenhagen.
This year, Cristiano Ronaldo’s spectacular goal against Juventus in the Uefa Champions League quarterfinal was compared with Zuma’s goal.
He said one of the reasons the national team did well during his time was because they had top players playing in some of the biggest European leagues.
“If you look back at our team, almost everyone was playing overseas. Phil Masinga was playing in Italy, Shaun Bartlett in England and Benni McCarthy was in Portugal.
"These guys were not on the bench, but were playing for the first team week in and week out, and you could watch them on TV scoring goals.”
Other players who donned jerseys for top teams overseas then were Quinton Fortune (Manchester United), Lucas Radebe (Leeds United), Hans Vonk (SC Heerenveen), Steven Pienaar (Ajax Amsterdam) and Bradley Carnell (VfB Stuttgart).
Pienaar and Vonk played in the tough Netherlands top league.
Out of the 22-man squad that played in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, 16 were playing for overseas teams, compared with the four players Stuart Baxter had for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria at FNB Stadium yesterday.
“This is what we need for the national team. If local players are serious about their football careers, this is what they should do,” Zuma said.
“If players are happy playing for Orlando Pirates, I can’t change their mind-set, but it would be better for them and the national team if they went overseas.
“These guys are comfortable because they are getting all the money here, but it’s not about the money – it’s about the level of football that you
want to play and it’s about challenging and pushing yourself to the limit.”
Zuma also revealed that joining African Wanderers, playing alongside Siyabonga Nomvethe and Phumlani Mkhize, was more special to him than playing at the World Cup.
“I always thought that going overseas and the goal that I scored there was special, but I still rate joining the team I grew up knowing, African Wanderers in Durban, and getting promoted with my friends to the PSL was the best moment,” he said.
“Wearing a jersey with the PSL logo was very important to me.”
He said if he hadn’t had a chance to play for Wanderers, he wouldn’t have moved to Pirates, or to Bafana Bafana and eventually to Europe.
Zuma said he was busy working on some projects that would be revealed in the next few weeks.
