Europeans don’t know football, come to South Africa – Mothiba

Mamelodi Sundowns’ star Lebo Mothiba has revealed the unpopular thing he used to tell European footballers about South African football.

The 29-year-old striker spent over 10 seasons in France, featuring for clubs such as Valenciennes, Lille, Strasbourg, and Troyes.

Mothiba ended his romance with French football when he left Strasbourg last summer, until joining Sundowns in March 2025 on a free transfer.

The towering player eventually made the cut for Sundowns’ squad that impressed at the recent FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

Now, speaking to South Africa’s Radio 2000 host Thabiso Mosima during the week, the on-and-off Bafana Bafana player revealed that he became unpopular in Europe for his brutal honesty.

Mothiba disclosed he used to challenge team-mates that South Africa had better raw football talent than in Africa.

“That is what I used to tell them in Europe that ‘you don’t know football. You don’t know soccer. Come to South Africa and see because there is raw talent’ and that is they didn’t like me. They used to say ‘you South Africa, you Bafana Bafana have you [ever] won the World Cup? So, stop talking.”

He used team-mate Themba ‘Mshishi’ Zwane as a typical example of how talented South Africans are.

“You know Sundowns players, technically they are so good,” he said.

“Everyone can see Msishi the great. The first time I played with him in the national team, I said: ‘there is no way this guy can be South African,” he said.

Mothiba also told the same radio station that his own style of play is very different from that of typical South African forwards.