The South African Football Association’s (SAFA) revolutionary registration and competitions management system, MYSAFA, has formed a key pillar within the South African footballing ethos and continues to grow and impress.
MYSAFA allows any coach, administrator or referee to easily check and verify the authenticity and eligibility of a player. The previous decentralised approach led to a lot of confusion and chaos and aided age-cheating and identity theft.
The new data-driven approach (an important aspect of Vision 2022) has paved the way for an electronic, technologically advanced method of tracking and scouting players as well as providing much-needed structure and has even been approved by governing body FIFA.
SAFA.net had an opportunity to chat to Vosloorus Local Football Association (VLFA) Secretary Mr Lindokuhle Nkabinde, who was kind enough to offer his viewpoints on the software and how it can benefit local football.
Nkabinde has been using the system for a while now and is enjoying his overall experience.
“It has been great thus far. The registration process has been made that much easier. Things are transparent as players can only register for one single club now. Previously teams used to take advantage but they are now more cautious, especially with Home Affairs involved now. The system aids in having an international database of players from which to choose from as well,” said Nkabinde.
Offering his opinion on the actual software and interface, the administrator stated that he enjoys the user-friendly nature of the platform.
“If you know the basics of using a computer then you are sorted. Once you get used to the software, it becomes very easy-to-use. There is no need for many training courses and all you need is an instruction manual. The dashboard is straightforward and guides you. The checking of information, especially of players, has been made very simple,” he said.
The LFA Secretary also sees a few key benefits of this system that could help South African football down the line.
“The main thing for me is how the age-cheating aspect has now been nullified. This will help steam-line our football nicely. Also, feeder and amateur clubs can now be compensated for their hard work as players can be officially tracked and there is evidence from where they first came,” he added.
South African Football will actually be able to take full advantage of FIFA’s 2.0 initiative. Following FIFA’s Council decision of 26 October 2018, the FIFA Administration has started working on the project of the FIFA Clearing House with the vision of automating distribution and payments of training rewards between clubs. Starting in July 2020, SAFA’s registered clubs in will be paid training rewards directly from the newly-created FIFA Clearing House.
The hardworking Nkabinde had one final thought on the MYSAFA website.
“It is a great medium for competition details. Logs and results as well as fixtures are available. The MYSAFA team always listens to suggestions and things are constantly improving,” concluded Nkabinde.