Bloated squad sizes don’t benefit SA’s top football teams

Football clubs in South Africa’s top-flight league have inflated squads, with the league averaging about 600 players between 2017/18 and 2021/22. 

This means that local teams register about 38 players every season, while European teams register no more than 25 players every season. 

There is no evidence to suggest that each team requires the 30 to 40 players that they generally register every season. At least three out of every five DStv Premiership players featured in less than half of the total matches played by their teams during this period.

Game Time

The situation gets more dire when you look further than the number of appearances players make, and consider the amount of playing time they accumulate, with the majority of them not getting much game time every season.

To put it in perspective, out of every 40 players, only 10 (25%) play for more than half of the total minutes on offer, and can therefore be considered to be  core members of their teams. 

Meanwhile, about 24 (60%) play for less than half of their team’s total minutes across all official competitions. Included in that figure, are players who accumulate just 300 minutes or less of game time during the whole season, and cannot really be considered as crucial members of their teams.

South African teams typically play between 2,700 and 4,500 minutes per season. 

Last season, 127 players – 20% of the total number of players in 2021/22 – played for 300 minutes or less. This represents just over 10% or less of the minimum total playing time that a DStv Premiership club is expected to play every season. 

At the other end of the spectrum, about six players (15%) do not appear in an official match at all. These figures debunk the misconception that the Premier Soccer League (PSL) does not require rules around squad size limits, because clubs can effectively do without 30% to 40% of their current squads – based on data from the last full five seasons – and still comfortably compete at their current level.

Europe’s top-flight clubs, as a comparison, play up to 60 matches every season, but they are only allowed to register 25 players in a single season – a model which has not disadvantaged them, even though they compete at a much higher level than the PSL, while playing more matches.

Time played by teams

The total number of matches played by the clubs in the 16-team DStv Premiership is determined by their participation and progress across all official competitions. 

Since the 2020/21 season when the Telkom Knockout competition was indefinitely halted, every club plays at least 31 matches comprising 30  league matches and at least one Nedbank Cup match, which they automatically qualify for by  virtue of being part of the top-flight setup. 

Qualifying clubs that progress to advanced stages of the other competitions which are affiliated with the league namely the MTN 8 as well as the intercontinental CAF Confederation Cup and CAF Champions League – can play up to 50 matches every season. 

Quality over quantity

Farouk Khan, an experienced coach on the local front, has previously questioned the functionality of clubs under these large squad sizes, asserting that it would be  challenging to keep all the players in the team happy. 

This is especially true considering that almost 20% never get to play at all and a further 20% do not even begin to scratch the surface in terms of getting reasonable game time, which is an important aspect of any footballer’s career.

“Also, with so many options and the limited time at your disposal, how do you get your players to adapt to your game model with limited game time?” he asked.

Khan’s sentiments were backed by veteran coach and the Turkish national team’s technical advisor Mushin Ertuğal – who has had an illustrious career in several countries, including South Africa, noting that huge squad sizes are not a necessity. 

“The tactical formats can be developed during the week before games. But concept development and for me a very important one is, the playing culture. That can’t be developed with a size like that. Practically very difficult,” said Ertuğal.

Are squad size limits in the PSL realistic?

Current DStv Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns consistently play a higher number of matches every season, playing its highest number of matches, 52, in 2019/20. 

With a squad size of 35 players at the time, only 14 played 50% or more of its total matches. Of those 14 players, only 12 of them played for 50% or more of the club’s total minutes. 

In essence, Sundowns has been built around no more than 15 core players per season in this time, and considering that the team plays a high number of matches every season because of its participation and progress in other official competitions, they are the perfect guinea pig if the league were to ever consider implementing squad caps.

Based on the data, PSL clubs can comfortably compete with squad sizes that are capped at around 20 players. The league could follow the European model by introducing a 25-player squad size limit which would allow for added depth, and would be a comfortable starting point.

Currently, no argument can be made in favour of larger squad limits because South African-based coaches typically keep the core of their teams below 20 players per season, even though clubs unnecessarily register a lot more than that.

There are many advantages to introducing squad size limits in South Africa, but the immediate benefit would be the significant decrease in their wage bill, considering that they make very little organic revenue and mostly rely on their owner’s pockets to keep afloat. 

This could allow local clubs to channel their already limited resources to  other areas that are in desperate need of optimisation which include, but are not limited to their academies, technical teams, and backroom staff, so that they are in line with modern football practices in an effort to boost the quality of the overall football played locally.

Based on the data from the last five seasons, we can conclude that less is more, as it is clear that the case for squad sizes limits in South African football makes itself, and would not be as contentious as many people in the football fraternity would imagine.