Who Holds the South African Transfer Record? Listing the Highest Transfers in South African Football

• The highest fee paid for a South African was by an English club for a Mamelodi Sundowns player
• There have been 12 transfers of €1,000,000 or more with 11 of those being for outbound players
• Mamelodi Sundowns are the only team to have paid over €1,000,000 to bring a player in

The big business of football elevates players to commodity status.

Transfers are a way of bringing in new players and sending bright stars out into foreign galaxies to uphold the flag of their origin.

South Africa has yet to command intergalactic sums of money seen in Europe, but when converted, illustrates the value of the country's league.

Sports Brief takes a glance at the biggest fees paid to and by Premier Soccer League clubs, as per TransferMarkt, with fees reflected in their Rand value of the time.

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A list of South Africa's biggest transfers

5. Thulani Serero

Despite agreeing a fee of €2.5 million with Ajax Amsterdam, Ajax Cape Town would only have received roughly R25 million for Thulani Serero based on the exchange rate at the time of the 2011 transfer.

Serero's career stalled in Holland, moving to Vitesse Arnhem after the Dutch giants, before trying his luck in the United Arab Emirates where the 33-year-old still plays today.

4. Keagan Dolly

Long before moving to Kaizer Chiefs, French club Montpellier took a €1.7 million chance on Keagan Dolly. He would only score once in his 56 appearances at the club before returning home.

That amount paid in 2017 would have pocketed Mamelodi Sundowns R27 million based on the exchange rate of that year, as per Exchangerates.org.

3. Cassius Mailula

At the beginning of this season, Cassius Mailula was snapped up by a Major League Soccer franchise based in Canada for €1.5 million.

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In July this year, the exchange rate hovered at just over R20 to the Euro, helping Mamelodi Sundowns earn another cool R30 million from the deal.

2. Marcelo Allende

The second-highest amount of money exchanged in South African football is also he only time a South African team has paid over €1 million for a player.

Mamelodi Sundowns paid Uruguayan Premier Division club, Montevideo City Torque €2.9 million for Chilean Marcelo Allende. Torque are new addition to the City Football Group and received roughly R50 million for the player in 2022.

1. Percy Tau

The Tshwane-based dominators of South African football picked up a pretty penny from Brighton and Hove Albion for Percy Tau.

Just under £3 million is low by Premier League standards but in 2018 Sundowns received roughly R51 million from the Seagulls. The move would prove unsuccessful and Tau would have to resurrect his career at Al Ahly.

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Elias Mokwana valued at R35 million

Sports Brief recently reported on Sekhukhune United's R35 million valuation of Elias Mokwana.

That amount would equate to €1.7 million should any foreign club be on the lookout for a winger.

If sold for that amount, Mokwana would become the third most expensive transfer in South Africa.