TS Galaxy chairman Tim Sukazi has explained the club’s decision to hold their mid-season break in Turkey amid the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Galaxy became the first club in South Africa to do this kind of adventure. Many clubs usually hold their training locally or in neighbouring countries.
LEARN NEW THINGS
Sukazi’s main aim in travelling overseas is to learn how European clubs are doing things behind closed doors in training and try to match it.
“We thought we could probably go there and learn a lot in Europe. The best practices and standards of football worldwide are European; all is in Europe,” Sukazi told SNAWA.
“As South Africans, we could do with a lot of lessons that could derive from every exposure that we are going to get.”
Sukazi mentioned that Turkey has good weather as compared to other European countries.
“The city of Antalya is home to many football clubs worldwide,” he said.
“There are clubs from Germany here, FK Liepaja from Latvia, Sampdoria is arriving on Tuesday, Napoli and Shakhtar Donetsk next week. They come here because the climax is the best in Europe as opposed to other countries.”
Sukazi also hopes many South African teams will start holding their pre-seasons abroad as players will get the much-needed exposure and a chance to play in Europe.
“I hope to see many South African clubs also touring Europe. Who knows, maybe other players will be seen and get a chance to play in Europe,” declared Sukazi.
“I hope this will also bring a mind shift to our players.
“First they will have to opportunity to benchmark themselves against European standards. I think these players hopefully after this exposure will be able to see how good they are by quality best standards in the world.”