‘Third place is not a trophy’ — Brian Baloyi tells Chiefs to aim higher

Kaizer Chiefs may have secured their return to the African continent, but club icon Brian Baloyi has warned that finishing third in the Betway Premiership is nothing to brag about.

While the “Spiderman” welcomed the fact that Amakhosi will participate in the CAF Confederation Cup next season, he urged the club’s leadership not to let this achievement mask the deeper issues currently facing the Naturena-based side.

Chiefs guaranteed a top-three finish in the Betway Premiership with two matches to spare following a 2-0 victory over Sekhukhune United in Polokwane on Sunday. However, Baloyi believes that celebrating a bronze-medal finish signals a dangerous decline in the club’s winning culture.

Chiefs Closing the gap on rivals – Pirates and Sundowns

Baloyi was blunt in his assessment of the current gulf in quality between Chiefs and the league’s pacesetters, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates. Speaking on the Soccer Beat podcast, the former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper stated that the “Big Three” conversation remains lopsided.

“You can’t be celebrating third position; it is taking your bar too low as a club and as fans,” Baloyi remarked. “Yes, it’s good to be back in the CAF [Confed Cup] and the top eight—it is good to be back in the conversation among the top three. But it is still a very long way to go to catch up to those top two teams.”

For Baloyi, the path back to the top requires a “no-nonsense” approach to the upcoming transfer window and technical changes.

“To make things right, there are a lot of tough decisions the club has to make with regards to players, the types of players they are going to sign, and the coach. For me, it is not even a conversation or a question of asking ‘are you keeping these coaches [Khalil Ben Youssef and Cedric Kaze]?’ It must never even be a question. It is clear that Chiefs needs to get a top-class coach to take Chiefs back to being a top-class club.”

Building on defensive foundations

Despite his critiques, Baloyi did acknowledge the improvements made in the defensive third this season. He credited the team for moving past the goalkeeping inconsistencies of previous years but noted that the squad depth remains thin.

Specifically, he pointed out that while the starting backline has shown promise, the club lacks an experienced “general” in the heart of the defence and needs a reliable backup goalkeeper to challenge for the No. 1 spot.

“In defence, as much as they’ve kept many clean sheets, credit to Brandon Petersen, and a very young defender in Aden McCarthy, and [Bradley] Cross,” Baloyi noted. “However, Chiefs still need to get a very reliable and experienced central defender.”

As the 2025/26 season draws to a close, Baloyi’s message is clear: continental qualification is a start, but for a club of Kaizer Chiefs’ stature, it is far from a finished product.