Zimbabwe Coach Hails Bafana Blueprint Built on Local Talent
Zimbabwe coach Marian Marinica has openly praised Bafana Bafana for building a competitive national side around locally based players — a model he believes Zimbabwe must urgently adopt.
South Africa’s success in recent tournaments has been driven largely by players drawn from Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, with head coach Hugo Broos showing strong faith in home-grown talent. At the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Broos relied on ten Sundowns players and guided Bafana to a bronze-medal finish. That approach continued at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, where the squad again featured a heavy domestic core, despite a group-stage exit.
Marinica believes South Africa’s domestic league structure — particularly the strength of the PSL and its regular involvement in the CAF Champions League — has made Broos’ job easier by producing players who already understand each other’s game.
While acknowledging Zimbabwe’s abundance of talent, including diaspora players based in England, Marinica pointed to a lack of cohesion compared to Bafana’s squad, whose core competes weekly in the same league.
“South Africa have players coming from local leagues who regularly play at a very high level,” Marinica said. “They are a very strong team. Can we also get this type of players in our local leagues?”
Bafana Bafana will now turn their attention to the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, where they have been drawn in Group A alongside Mexico and the Republic of Korea, with the final group place to be decided in March 2026.
For Zimbabwe, the message from their rivals is clear: a strong, competitive local league may be the key to building a more unified and competitive national team.