Kalou – ‘I hope Chiefs will win next year’
· Citizen
Chelsea and Ivory Coast legend Salomon Kalou wants Kaizer Chiefs to win next season’s Betway Premiership title.
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Kalou grew up in the Ivory Coast supporting Chiefs, and has visited the Chiefs Village in Naturena. He is now in the country as a World Cup analyst for SuperSport TV. Kalou’s motivation for backing Chiefs is not just because he is a fan. He believes a more competitive Premier Soccer League can only help Bafana Bafana moving forward.
Orlando Pirates won the league last season, picking up their first title in 14 years, while also ending Mamelodi Sundowns’ run of eight consecutive Premiership crowns.
Kalou – ‘The PSL level is good, it is high’
Pirates and Sundowns also dominated Hugo Broos’ Bafana Bafana 2026 Fifa World Cup squad, a squad that took South Africa to the knockout stages at a World Cup finals for the first time.
“The PSL level is good, it is high,” Kalou told Phakaaathi.
“The team that won the Champions League is from the PSL (Sundowns). It is a matter for me of how the other teams compete. OK, Pirates are the new (Premiership) champions after many years. But the same team has been winning and you need to balance that.
“I hope Chiefs will win next year, and that will create more competition between the big teams.
“You also have young teams who can create surprises, like Stellenbosch coming in. Those are the ways of getting the league even more exciting. The talent is there, it is just about development and structure so that the players become even more experienced and better with the national team. A more competitive league will benefit the national team.”
Kalou was impressed by what he saw from Bafana at the World Cup, and believes it was just a case of not taking their opportunities that saw Broos’ men exit the tournament at the hands of Canada in the last 32.
‘You have to captialise’
Bafana lost 2-0 to Mexico in their opening Group A match but then got a 1-1 draw with Czechia, and saved their best display for a 1-0 win over South Korea that took them through as group runners-up.
‘I think South Africa started badly, but they were playing the hosts at home and the red cards didn’t help. They came back stronger. They fought in the second game and the last 45 minutes against Czechia were very positive.
“Then they won against Korea. In the last game against Canada the only thing missing was that they didn’t take their moment. When you platy those games and you have a moment you have to capitalise. That is what Canada did, they had a chance in the last minute and they got a goal.”