5 July 2019 – By now most football players, coaches and administrators across the country would have familiarised themselves with the MYSAFA Player Registration and competition management system introduced by the South African Football Association (SAFA).

For the few not too familiar as yet, MYSAFA is a modern software-based system that attempts to create more transparency across all football structures around the country, prevent age-cheating and ultimately ensure a more professional South African footballing ethos.

On top of this, the MYSAFA Club Pro service has recently been integrated with FIFA’s Transfer Matching System and FIFA Connect ID platform to assist amateur clubs in benefiting financially via solidarity payments earned by developing players who go on to greener pastures.

When one thinks of all the advantages for all concerned, it is easy to see why such a platform is long overdue. This sentiment is echoed by the SAFA Cape Town region.

Safa.net had an informative chat with SAFA Cape Town Treasurer, Mr Wayne Weitz, as well as the Head of Registrations in the region, Gretchen Jaftha. Both provided feedback on their personal experiences.

“Overall it is a great system which allows sanity to prevail. One can easily track player movement and the software can be utilized anywhere. It is very simple to reference a player when required,” said Weitz.

“It is quite simple to understand and also user-friendly. It is actually long overdue and we were actually trying to come up with a similar system before this one to assist in registering players. Alas it is finally here and we are happy,” added Jaftha.

He also stated that with the system, fraud is now a thing of the past and players cannot change dates or names on their ID documents and is also impressed with the unique FIFA Connect ID numbers, which helps with tracking and facilitation of international transfers.

With 273 951 registrations to date and evidence from the success of the German national team, who also benefited from digitizing their association, there is little doubt that South African football is on the right track. Vision 2022 (with the registration aspect a key component) seems to be taking shape rather nicely.

If you are a football administrator and would like more information or would like to try out the system, please go to https://mysafaclubpro.com/