Premier Soccer League Increases South American Flavour as Western Cape Sides Sign Players From Venezuela

Premier Soccer League Increases South American Flavour as Western Cape Sides Sign Players From Venezuela

Keba Mothoagae
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:55 PM
  • It seems that the Premier Soccer League is fast becoming a destination for footballers from South America
  • Western Cape sides Stellenbosch Football Club and cape Town City recently announced the acquisition of a Venezuelan player each
  • There are already three active players from that continent in the league, with Mamelodi Sundowns already being the hotbed of its talent

The amount of South American players in South African football increased this past weekend.

Stellenbosch Football Club acquired the services of 28-year-old Venezuelan winger Juan Carlos Ortíz from Primeria last week. This morning, Cape Town City signed Ortiz' countryman Darwin Gonzalez, a 27-year-old midfielder from the same league via Deportivo La Guaira.

premier soccer league, dstv premiership, stellenbosch football club, cape town city, venezuela, south america, juan carlos oritz, darwin gonzalez
Cape Town City's Darwin Gonzalez and Stellenbosch Football Club's Juan Carlos Ortiz. Image source: @CapeTownCityFC & @StellenboschFC/Twitter
Source: Twitter

According to KickOff, Ortíz scored an impressive 16 goals in 32 league matches which saw him rank as the third-most prolific player in the division during the 2021 campaign and was included in the Best XI for the season. Meanwhile, SowetanLIVE reported how Cape Town City was thrilled with Gonzalez jetting into the Mother City.

His new coach Eric Tinkler said:

“Darwin has pace and creativity, very similar to what Bradley Ralani gave us, but he also has the ability to score goals. He’s a fantastic acquisition. He’s someone who has played in Africa before with Etoile in Tunisia so he has Caf (Champions League) experience, and we’re happy to have him at our club.
“He can play either out wide or as a striker, so he gives us a lot of options in attack.”

This was just weeks after Mamelodi Sundowns unveiled Bolivian import Erwin Saavedra from Club Bolivar for a supposed but unrevealed club record fee as per Goal.com.

As reported on KickOff, Mamelodi Sundowns have Brazilian Ricardo Nascimento and Uruguayan Gaston Sirino on their books. Kaizer Chiefs bought Colombian Leonardo Castro from Sundowns back in 2017.

Teboho Mokoena joins Mamelodi Sundowns to win titles, sends heartfelt message to thank Supersport United

While Kaizer Chiefs fumbled around on the transfer market, it was business as usual for the the country's richest club Mamelodi Sundowns.

As reported on Sports Brief, Mokoena attracted interest from Premier Soccer League clubs including Kaizer Chiefs and Belgian side Anderlect.

The highly-rated Teboho Mokoena's move to Mamelodi Sundowns is still a hot topic in South Africa and the talented midfielder has opened up about why he joined the Brazilians amid interest from other clubs.

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Keba Mothoagae
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