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The title race will heat up

Soccer Laduma

January 15, 2026

As exciting as AFCON has been, there is something special about the return of the Betway Premiership.

Next week’s resumption, starting with Mamelodi Sundowns against Orbit College, feels like a reset button being pressed. Local football has its own rhythm, its own narratives, and its own emotional pull.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 15, 2026-Ausgabe von Soccer Laduma.

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Can Cele turn things around at Chiefs?

Just under a year ago, Kaizer Chiefs announced the signing of long-term transfer target Thabo Cele from Russian side FC Fakel Voronezh. The midfield-general was supposed to bring added quality and European know-how to the table, even if he had very little experience at international level. After signing midway through last term, Cele was tipped for a big campaign this time around after a full preseason. Instead, we are yet to see the best of him in the 2025/26 campaign and rumours swirl about why he was left in the stands before the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations break. In this feature, we look at the player's stats and ask if his time at the Naturena-based club is set to improve or faces a premature end. What does he bring to the team, and how does he compare to the other engine room options? Soccer Laduma investigates.

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I nearly shed a tear...

By the time you read this column, the Africa Cup of Nations finalists would have been finalized as the semi-finals took place before our print deadline on Wednesday

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Are McKenzie and Broos at loggerheads?

Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie went to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco and attracted a lot of attention. McKenzie disagreed with Bafana Bafana

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The truth also needs to be told sometimes...

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World Cup Preparations

McKenzie is already planning for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

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You learn from failure

South African supporters have been spoilt with good results during Hugo Broos' tenure as Bafana Bafana coach, so expectations were naturally high going into the latest edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, especially after the team finished third in the last competition played in Ivory Coast. The team got past the group stages yet again, but the journey ended in the Last 16 with a defeat to Cameroon. Since then, a lot has been said about the national team and there have been some calls, from both supporters and former players, for Broos to be relieved of his duties, but with the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching, would that be the right move? Soccer Laduma's Tshepang Mailwane spoke to Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Ricardo Goss to talk about AFCON and where it went wrong for Bafana.

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Paying his own way to AFCON

The biggest revelation from McKenzie’s Morocco trip was his decision to pay his own expenses after going on personal leave.

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I took that as a wake-up call

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