Zimbabwe national team coach Marian Marinica has singled out Bafana Bafana as a blueprint Zimbabwe should emulate, praising South Africa’s heavy reliance on locally based players drawn from a strong domestic league.
Bafana’s recent squads have been shaped largely by stars from Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, a strategy Marinica believes has given head coach Hugo Broos a decisive advantage.
At the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Broos leaned on a core of ten Sundowns players and guided South Africa to a bronze-medal finish. The pattern continued at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, where the squad featured nine Pirates players and five from Sundowns, underlining unwavering faith in home-grown talent.
Although Bafana were eliminated at the group stage in Morocco, Marinica says the underlying lesson remains clear: a competitive domestic league can significantly strengthen the national team.
Marinica on Broos’ Winning Formula
“If you look at South Africa, they have players coming from the local leagues who are regularly playing at a very high level in the CAF Champions League,” Marinica said. “They are a very, very strong team. Can we also get this type of players in the local leagues?”
The Romanian tactician believes Zimbabwe possesses abundant quality — including diaspora players born in England who have pledged allegiance to the Warriors — but argues that the lack of a unified domestic platform undermines cohesion.
According to Marinica, Broos’ job is simplified by a league system that consistently produces players ready for continental competition, something Zimbabwe must urgently replicate if it is to close the gap.