SIHLANGU SQUAD RATED CHEAPEST!

MBABANE – With only two Eswatini internationals, it was bound to happen.

A renowned Zambia website, www.zedsoccer.com, has released prices of the most expensive football squads in southern Africa and Eswatini was rated the lowest. The statistics were released early this month and the Dominic Kunene-led charges were ranked last and valued at E4.2 million. Coming second from bottom was Lesotho on E6.89 million. Leading the chasing pack was Zambia which boast a squad valued at E860.65 million. The ‘Chipolopolo’ of Zambia are closely followed by Angola, which are valued at E572.15 million, while Zimbabwe complete the top three at E454.36 million.

valued

Notably, South Africa that have a number of internationals, had their squad valued at E265.89 million on the fifth spot while Mozambique are ahead on E319.73 million. The squads’ values are calculated by the number of players who are rated in the transfermarkt.com. The more internationals a country has, the more it has players who are rated and included in transfermarkt.com. Eswatini currently has two internationals. They include Bonginkhosi ‘Manyovu’ Dlamini, who plays for Grupo Desportivo Sagrada Esperança, also known as Sagrada Esperança. The latter is a football club from Dundo, Lunda Norte province, Angola. Another international is Cape Town All Stars’ Justice Figuareido. Stars compete in South Africa’s National First Division League, which is being played under the GladAfrica Championship banner.

FIFA-accredited agent Dingane Maduma said while the rankings were a true reflection, it did not represent the strength of the country. “It can go back to youth development. We are not producing enough players who could play outside the country. We need to have academies that will groom at grassroots level so that when they play in the top level, they would have mastered the basics,” said Maduma. He also highlighted that as a country, we were about results instead of building for a future.

grooming

“Other countries during COSAFA Cup tournaments, they send a young squad which they were monitoring and grooming over a long period. In that way we can get to have more internationals and our value as a football nation can improve,” he said. Eswatini will next month play one of the highly-ranked nations, Togo in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 Qualifiers. Togo are ranked 121st by FIFA. They are 32nd in Africa. Eswatini is ranked 143rd and 43rd globally and in Africa, respectively. At home, in 2008, Eswatini won 2-1 and lost 6-0 away to the Togolese side.

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