South African U20 National Team captain Shandre Campbell’s exploits in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League and appearance on the UEFA Champions League team sheet, the biggest stage of club football globally, will change the landscape of the local game’s exports to top European leagues.
Shandre Campbell (Pic – Supplied)
The young generation of players from the junior national teams is driven and ambitious. They want to compete against the best in Europe’s big leagues.
When Campbell sat on the bench during the two Champions League matches against Aston Villa recently, thousands of young players in SA started to hope this was possible.
They have seen it happen with Lyle Foster in the English Premier League with Burnley, having been scouted from the same league where Campbell is playing, in the Belgian Next League (Second Division) and then the top league.
Campbell’s former teammate at United, Siviwe Magidigidi, is hugely inspired. He even scored a hat-trick last weekend in the DDC against Magesi, and he recalled what makes the young boy from Ekurhueni special.
“Shandre, every day he was always on, even at training. If you are running and you are in front, Shandre would be there. Sometimes, he would even stay behind in training when we are done for the day and do some extra stuff like finishing.
“You could see that something big was going to happen for him, the way he was training and game-wise he was consistently scoring goals or contributing through an assist,” that’s how proudly Magidigidi talks about his former strike partner.
When Campbell moved to Club Brugge, there was a lot of brouhaha about why he was being “demoted” from the Premier Soccer League’s Premier Division to a Belgian second division.
But the pathway was equally important, and now, before the end of the season, the teenage sensation is making a big step up, playing against the best of the best of club football globally.
Something his former coach at “Matsatsansa A Pitori” Roscoe Krieling is proud of:
“Look for us as SuperSport United, at least for the players that we are working with, now we have a direct link for some of these young boys, for a player who was here training and playing with them. They have seen where he’s gone, and they will be asking themselves, what’s stopping me from also achieving that.
Big things are happening (Pic – Supplied)
“It’s a big thing and a dream for each and every coach to see a player that has grown in the academy, or the football club get to that level.” – Godfrey Mosoetsa.
“Now, they will be asking themselves, am I okay just playing in the PSL, or follow in Shandre’s footsteps. With Shandre, it was always – he was very clear that he wanted to play in Europe, and there was nothing stopping him from getting that opportunity,” Krieling recalls Campbell’s drive to play in Europe.
In anticipation of the big news around Campbell last week, I picked up the phone and contacted an old friend and colleague, Tanou Diallo from Guinea, who is based in Belgium.
He was excited to learn that Campbell is from SA and promised that he will try and get an interview with him in the mixed zone or at least ask the coach, Nicky Hayen, during the post-match conference about his progress. And this happened.
“I didn’t know that he was from South Africa, so I was surprised when you told me, Velile, that he’s from there. The coach said it when he answered my question. That’s how they do in Brugge; when they see a young player with potential, they give him an opportunity to train with the first team.
“In the league, as you know, the boy played his first game in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League, and they saw that the boy might be ready to be kept in the first team. He’s ready to be shown what is the Champions League, he didn’t play but he’s seen something from the bench,” Diallo looks back at the experience gained by Campbell.
With all these achievements, in the middle of the season, Brugge didn’t stand in the way of Campbell to represent his country in the Cosafa Cup, and he was rewarded with a Player of the Tournament prize, this is the perfect pathway of building an international player.
SuperSport chief scout Godfrey Mosoetsa, who has scouted tons of talent for the club over 25 years, from Kermit Erasmus, Ronwen Williams, Thandani Ntshumayelo to Teboho Mokoena, Sipho Mbule and now Campbell, says this is unprecedented for both the club and country.
“Shandre came through the soccer schools (SuperSport United Soccer Schools), when we had a partnership with the soccer schools. One of my jobs is to look at the players, who I think, would be able to make it, first prize is to play for our first team.
“And the second prize is to either play for the first team at the age of 18 or earlier than that because it’s not easy for the payer to go overseas, except just for training before the age of 18.
“With Shandre, we had to wait for him to finish matric and also turn 18 before allowing to go overseas. He was good enough to go overseas and play,” Mosoetsa recalls how they discovered the 19-year-old.
As the Africa Cup of Nations U17 and U20 tournament approaches, the PSL is abuzz with clubs giving youngsters a chance to play at the highest level; this is happening in a season where we have seen more teenagers registered and given a chance in top-flight football.
In the Amajita squad, the likes of Kutlwano Letlhaku, Asekho Tiwani (Mamelodi Sundowns), Mfundo Vilakazi (Kaizer Chiefs), Langelihle Phili (Stellenbosch FC), Siviwe Nkwali (Cape Town Spurs), Mbekezeli Mbokazi (Orlando Pirates) will turn eyes in Côte D’Ivoire in April.
Towards the end of last year, I traveled to Kimberley. Portuguese giants Benfica FC had visited, working on a partnership with the Local Football Association (LFA) there.
But what was more interesting about that trip was seeing these two high-ranking Sundowns officials also in town as they tried very hard to convince Emile Witbooi’s family that the Brazilians would be the best club for him.
But by then, I knew it was already too late; the deal with Cape Town City had been clinched, and it was just a matter of time before they unveiled him.
At City, there was also assurance that there would be no hesitation if an overseas offer came for the 16-year-old.
Another talent honed at the School of Excellence and a son to former City and Sundowns attacker Bradley Ralani, Witbooi impressed Chelsea scouts during a Fifa Technical Development Scheme (TDS) tournament in Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire, and that’s how his widely reported about trial at the EPL club’s academy came about.
Now, under the well-travelled head coach Muhsin Ertuğral, who has served as a FIFA U20 World Cup Technical Study Group (TSD) member, Witbooi became the youngest player to represent City at the age of 16 years, six months, and five days.
This made him the 13th player under 17 to make a professional debut in the PSL era.
This is a well-calculated move from the streetwise and business-smart club owner like John Comitis, given the offers Witbooi continues to receive from top European leagues ahead of the Afcon tournament in Morocco at the end of March 2025.
In the main, Campbell’s move opens doors for thousands of SA’s young footballers playing in the fourth tier of local football, the U21 Hollywoodbets Regional League, to continue to dream big.
This is the league where some of the top talent the country has produced started, and now even some top academies play in that space.
