Following the significant performance of the South African national team at the World Cup, Manchester United legend Quinton Fortune believes that South African players need to move to Europe to take the national team to a new level.
Despite South Africa achieving historic success at the FIFA Cup, Fortune argues that this momentum must be used for further development. He shared his thoughts in an exclusive interview with IOL.
Fortune stated that while working in the media from Madrid, he congratulated the players, noting that they had achieved something incredible for the national team that others could not.
The South African national team reached the World Cup playoffs for the first time in its history. However, since the coach responsible for this achievement, Hugo Brues, announced his departure, uncertainty arose regarding the national team's future path.
The South African Football Association (SAFA) quickly found a successor, appointing Pitso Mosimane to a leadership role in just over a week.
Despite the change in coach, Fortune insists that the country's top talents should seek opportunities abroad to continue their growth. He emphasized that while playing in South Africa is a good starting point, players need to go beyond the country for a real challenge and improvement of the team.
He explained that all leading global footballers play in Europe for a specific reason, which is related to the level of success they achieve there. Fortune himself never played in local South African football; he left early to join the Tottenham Hotspur youth academy and then spent seven brilliant years at Manchester United during its peak, starting in 1999.
Fortune cited examples of top European leagues—Spain, Argentina, France, and England—where many players compete. He asserted that if a person aims to become a world-class player, they should play there. He also mentioned that stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo left Argentina and Portugal, and the great Ronaldo and Ronaldinho left Brazil for Europe because they wanted to be the best and knew it was the only path to perfection. This, according to Fortune, is what he wishes for the current generation of South African footballers.
