Liverpool legend Michael Owen criticises South Africa's football development system
Image: Leon Lestrade Independent Newspapers
Michael Owen, the former England and Liverpool striker, has addressed South Africa's persistent challenges in developing players capable of breaking into the world's top football leagues, especially the Premier League.
In an exclusive one-on-one interview with IOL, Owen, who is also a Subbet ambassador, pointed to a lack of long-term development systems as key reasons why South African players remain absent from elite European clubs.
Owen, a Ballon d'Or winner and one of England's most celebrated strikers, also played for clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester United.
"Listen, it's very difficult. Very difficult unless your structure supports it. And quite clearly in South Africa, the structure supports rugby players, maybe cricket," Owen said.
His comments come at a time when South Africa has only a handful of players playing in Europe's top five leagues.
"But in terms of football, as much as it's a very, very popular sport, getting young players through the system and sufficiently educated, and I'm talking football education, sufficiently educated, a nice clear career path, the finances, the facilities, you know, it's simply not there".
Owen added that while South Africa remains a football-loving nation, passion alone was not enough.
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"So there's no point in having a 100,000-seater stadium that costs a billion pounds to build. That's the end game. If you want good players, you've got to start right at the other end.
"And you've got to, you know, they've got to be doing it in schools. They've got to be playing. There's got to be a pathway. There's got to be lots and lots of things that have got to be put in place to be able to do that".
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