AS the 2025/26 Betway Premiership season is drawing to a close, players are beginning to appear who have the chance to receive awards at the end of it due to their outstanding performances in their teams.
One of the most talked about names is the PSL Footballer of the Season, which is awarded to the best player in different competitions including the league and playoffs, which was won by the former player of Mamelodi Sundowns, Lucas Ribeiro Costa, last season.
The good performance of Orlando Pirates in the playoffs and in the league gives its outstanding players a good chance, as well as Sundowns in the fierce competition for the league title with Zimnyama.
Among the Pirates players who stand out this season when domestic competitions are included is Oswin Appollis who was very hot at the beginning of the season in creating and scoring goals, and who continues to be a threat to this team.
In the 32 home games he has played in his first season at Pirates, he has scored five goals and assisted in nine. Apart from that, there are other things he does in the game that are not easy to count such as assisting his teammates when marking and starting moves from the stomach.
Relebohile Mofokeng, who does almost the same job as Appollis, is also being looked at. Although this young player (21) who is a slomo did not start the season with a high gear, but he was heard before the break of the Africa Cup of Nations, and he raised the level again after this competition.
In 27 home games, Mofokeng hit the net eight times, scoring five goals.
Another Magebula player who is on the list of the best players in the country this season is the goalkeeper, Sipho Chaine. Although it is unusual for the player of the year award to be given to a goalkeeper, it has happened before, it was won by Itumeleng Khune in the 2012/13 season, and Ronwen Williams in the 2023/24 season.
In 31 games, Chaine has scored 12 goals and 21 of the games he has blocked and scored goals. Apart from blocking difficult shots, this goalkeeper makes a difference when the ball is at his feet since many moves start from him with short and long passes.
For Sundowns, another player who has been on the ball for a long time this season is the right stopper, Khuliso Mudau. Although he had a bad start to the season without playing due to disagreements with this team, since he started playing in September last year he has shown why he is considered one of the best players in Africa in the area he plays.
He does his marking job as it is not easy for the attacking players to pass him, and he is dangerous when he goes forward to create and score goals.
One of Sundowns’ most prominent players is striker Iqraam Rayners, who can follow in the footsteps of Siyabonga Nomvethe, who was named Footballer of the Season in the 2011/12 season.
Even though Rayners has been hampered by injuries this season, when he is on the field, you can see the difference. In the 21 games he has played in, he has scored 13 goals and made three.
Apart from these five players, there are also others from Pirates, Sundowns and other teams who can use the remaining games of the Premiership and Nedbank Cup to add themselves to this list of the best players.
However, if these five players continue with the form they have shown, it will be difficult for the winner of this award not to come from them.
