Sundowns’ star Rayners disappointed with PSL nominations

Mamelodi Sundowns striker Iqraam Rayners has expressed disappointment with his limited nominations in the Premier Soccer League’s end of the 2025 season awards.

The former Stellenbosch FC’s star spoke about the awards during Pitchside Podcast which Sundowns’ legends Hlompho Kekana and Sibusiso Vilakazi hosted. Rayners insisted that he deserved more accolades following a great 2024-2025 Betway Premiership season he had with the Pretoria-based giants.

The latest episode of the pitchside podcast is out on YouTube.
Iqraam Rayners mentions not being nominated for PSL player of the season and players player of the season Awards despite having the Second Most goals and assists. Lucas Ribeiro Costa also makes an appearance 💛👆 pic.twitter.com/HqdILuP214

— Sundowns Xtra (@SundownsXtra_) July 28, 2025

“Obviously, a lot of people did not believe in me, [but] I always believe in myself and the coaches, even the players. In my first season, I was happy to be at the club and doing my best,” he said.

“I am a bit disappointed because I had a good season with a good team, good players and the coaches also believed in me. I was disappointed to see the players they nominated and my statistics of last season, it was good. When I see my stats and their stats, I think I deserved to be in many of the categories.”

The Bafana Bafana star then insisted that only club team-mate Lucas Ribeiro performed better than him last campaign.

“The best player in the league was Lucas and I think I am second after Lucas. My stats were obviously the second best,” Rayners said.

The statistics for the 29-year-old were 24 goals and nine assists across all competitions but he missed out on nominations for all but one category of the accolades.

Rayners was only considered for Carling Knockout Player of the Tournament. The other accolades include the Players’ Player of the Year and PSL Footballer of the Season.