South Africa players are too comfortable to stay at home – Jay-Jay Okocha

Former Nigeria captain Jay-Jay Okocha has urged South African footballers to push beyond their comfort zones if they hope to succeed abroad.

Okocha, who enjoyed a two-decade career across Germany, Turkey, France, and England and earned 73 caps for the Super Eagles, shared his insights during an interview on Thabisa Mosia’s Game On program on Radio 2000.

“First of all, you must have the desire to become the best version of yourself,” Okocha said.

“For you to make a name for yourself globally, you must get out of your comfort zone, and this is the problem,” he continued.

The 52-year-old highlighted a key difference between South African and Nigerian players in adapting to foreign leagues.

“It is my opinion that South African players are too comfortable at home. That drive is not really there, but we Nigerians, we’re very ambitious people. We like to challenge ourselves. Of course, when you come to a country like Germany, you have to try to socialise and understand the culture of the people,” the former Bolton Wanderers man added.

“You have to be willing to learn the language and just learn in general. It’s a lot easier if you have people who mentor you, but it’s also about how you present yourself. If you show that you’re willing to learn, then your stay will be a lot easier. My advice is just to be open and make sure you have that hunger and desire to become the best version of yourself,” he said.

He also praised the Premier Soccer League (PSL) after Bafana Bafana secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“It’s happy days for South African football, and it’s well deserved because they worked for it. They invested in the local league, and they are reaping the rewards of it because most of these players are playing in the local league,” he added. 

“That’s the impressive part of it because it shows how strong the South African league is, even though I think that you need to have more players playing in Europe, but of course, you have to appreciate the work and the way things have worked out for South African football,” Okocha concluded.