Former Ajax Amsterdam and Bafana Bafana winger Steven Pienaar has urged young South African footballers to aim for Europe's prominent divisions even if it means reaching that destination via lowly-ranked leagues.
Pienaar is a graduate of the Safa-Transnet Football School of Excellence, which he credits for sharpening his skills, before he joined Ajax Amsterdam from their Cape Town satellite club in 2001.
The now-retired Pienaar went straight from South Africa to play in the Dutch top-flight without using other lower-ranked European leagues as a springboard for more competitive football.
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“Our boys in SA have to get into leagues like Belgium and in Scandinavia to develop themselves because that is the stepping stone to the big leagues in Europe.