Foreign-players limit

ficantly reduce the number of Zimbabwean players in the South African topflight.
The Union said the move would enhance the standard of the local league as well as improve the chances of young South African-born players’ chances of playing in the premiership.
The influx of foreign players was compromising the standards of the league and denying local youngsters a chance of playing league football, due to the poor performance of South African youth national teams, SAFPU said.
“It’s very good that the Premier Soccer League plans to regulate the foreign players who want to play in our league. It will give our development players an opportunity to play and will also improve the standard of our league. We must adopt what the English Premier League is doing,” said Union spokesperson, Elvis Sekgobela.
PSL is contemplating adopting stringent regulations regarding foreign players that want to play in the country. The proposed move is inspired by the English PSL.
In England, a foreign players should have played at least 75 percent of their national team matches over a two-year period for them to acquire a permit to play in the league.
The national team should also be ranked an average 70 in the FIFA ranking during the same period.
Such stringent regulations cost a Zimbabwe midfielder an opportunity to play in the English first division.
The South African PSL’s plans will mostly affect Zimbabwean players. Zimbabwe has the highest number of players in the South African topflight as well as the lower leagues.
The league has become the destination of choice for Zimbabweans who find it difficult to break into topflight leagues around the world as a result of strict regulations many leagues have put in place.
They also do not have problems adapting in the league.