Kaizer Chiefs legend Itumeleng Khune reckons that the current generation of players have somewhat turned into social media influencers as opposed to focusing on their careers as footballers.
The 38-year-old enjoyed a 25-year trophy-laden career at Amakhosi where he amassed over 300 appearances while representing Bafana Bafana in 91 outings.
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Now a football pundit on SABC while working with brands such as Carling Black Label and Topbet just to mention a few, ‘Itu’ has pinpointed social media as a factor on why some players don’t even reach their potential.
In recent times the number of Amakhosi players in the senior national team has dwindled down notably at the 2023 and 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and recent FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Khune told Thabiso Sithole on eNCA’s Beyond Game Day that social media is a big part of the problem, and he’s surprised why the current players aren’t curious they aren’t being called up to represent South Africa.
“It’s unfortunate that nowadays players have a lot of distractions,” said Khune.
“Players have invested in social media. They are not footballers anymore they are influencers.
“Current players don’t care about their careers that’s why I’m saying you go to Kaizer Chiefs – Itumeleng Khune was the last goalkeeper to play for both Chiefs and Bafana and play 91 times for the national team and play more than 350 games for Kaizer Chiefs in 20 years in the first team.
“You’ve had Bruce [Bvuma] coming after me whom we thought is going to to follow in the footsteps. I’m happy that you mentioned that now there hasn’t been a Kaizer Chiefs player in the national team.
“We were taking our football careers serious and didn’t have any distractions. On our phones, we only had Facebook. You would look at it, put it aside then you focus on your career.
“You do extra work. Even with the distributions I used to practice in the backyard at home. I would take a tooth pick after eating meat and then try to hit it with the ball. Next it would be a fork. I used to be so crazy about football.
“But kids nowadays, it’s like they’re not even bothered that Kaizer Chiefs used to produce goalkeepers and players for the national team and now there’s no player. Why are they not bothered?”
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