This past weekend, Mamelodi Sundowns won the 2022/23 DStv Premiership without featuring domestically, as the club was involved in the CAF Champions League against Cameroonian club Coton Sport.
The Brazilians won the league after SuperSport United dropped points in their 1-1 draw with Chippa United on Saturday evening.
It is a record sixth consecutive league championship for the former African champions and the earliest championship victory in the PSL era, which was attained with seven matches still to play for the Rulani Mokoena-coached side.
Downs are currently on 59 points from 23 matches.
Now, the race is on for the second place finish for a team to join Sundowns in the Champions League next season.
The Siya crew discusses Downs' successes and the current state of football in Mzansi with football coach Vladislav Heric.
The Good
"Look, we can look at it in different ways and first and foremost, they (Sundowns) are investing a lot of money for them to compete in the league and outside of the country. That's a good investment and paying out with the results on the field. Obviously, the investment between Sundowns and any other club in the country is not the same. There's a huge difference. They built their structure properly," said Heric.
The Bad
"If all the best players go to Sundowns, other clubs have to do something about it to compete. I have heard people debating about it and saying that Sundowns is buying all the best players and it is unfair. But my question always goes to all the sides. Why are the other clubs not doing anything to keep the players? They can try and improve the players' contracts and salaries to keep them. The clubs have to find a way to match Sundowns and the only way to do that is by spending more money," he said.
The Ugly
"The management of each club have to work harder to get the sponsors and to generate more income. They have to endeavour to make the budgets of the clubs bigger. People in the management of these clubs have to use all of their resources to generate as much money as they possibly can so that they cannot cry foul at the end of the day. It cannot be that the grant is the only income that the clubs have. That cannot happen. If you allow yourself that you will rely on the PSL grant as the club, things will be difficult for you. There are many companies that are willing to invest money in PSL clubs, but they expect to see quality football. If Soccer Laduma wants to invest money in a certain club and you are the person in charge of that, you can agree to it but you will want to see people at the stadium when that team is playing. One of the first things we need to do is to improve the quality of football so as to attract the sponsors. Everything is like a chain," the coach said.
I Don't Agree With People Saying Sundowns Is Ruining Football In SA
"I know I have suggested that clubs should look to raise the salary of their players in order to keep them but I understand that it cannot always be possible to do that. If, for example, Sundowns come and ask for 10 players from you there is no way you will be able to raise salaries for 10 players. Look at what has been happening in Spain, there's been a big gap between Barcelona, Real Madrid and the other clubs. Sometimes Valencia jumps and sometimes Atletico (Madrid) jumps and people cannot be blaming Barcelona for that. So, I don't agree with people saying that Sundowns is ruining football in South Africa like some people have been saying, I disagree with that. That's my opinion and I don't know what the other think," concluded Heric.
Can Sundowns go on to win the league 10 years in a row?
