The Most Improved PSL Players of the 2025/26 Season

Some seasons produce stars. This one produced transformations. The 2025/26 PSL campaign has been remarkable not just for the title race drama or the relegation battles, but for the number of players who arrived in August as question marks and leave in May as genuine answers. These are the players whose careers shifted this season.

Wandile Duba — From Substitute to Starter

Kaizer Chiefs' young striker spent 18 months coming off the bench, scoring occasionally but never quite seizing the starting shirt. This season, under renewed trust from the technical team, Duba has been transformed. He has scored 12 goals, created five more, and evolved from a raw finisher into a complete forward who drops deep, combines intelligently, and works hard out of possession. His hat-trick against Richards Bay last month was the most complete individual striking performance in the PSL this season from an academy product. At 22, his ceiling is suddenly very difficult to predict.

Siyanda Xulu — Rediscovering His Best

The veteran centre-back has been written off several times in his career. At 32, with fitness questions following a difficult 2024/25 campaign, many expected this to be a farewell season. Instead, Xulu produced some of the most commanding defensive performances in the league — reading the game with the intelligence that only experience provides, mentoring younger defenders alongside him, and bringing a physical durability that defied his age. His partnership with a younger partner at his club produced the second-best defensive record in the league. Age is not always the enemy.

Lehlogonolo Mazuka — Making the Midfield His Own

Kaizer Chiefs' young midfielder arrived at the club from their academy with potential but not yet the physique or confidence to impose himself on PSL football. This season he has both. His ability to win the ball back immediately, carry it forward under pressure, and deliver the final pass has given Chiefs a midfield energy they have been missing. The improvement is not accidental — he is clearly a player who has worked obsessively on his game. Two goals and eight assists from central midfield for a developing team is an exceptional return.

Siphamandla Cele — Cape Town City's Breakout Star

We mentioned Cele yesterday in the context of young stars, but his improvement over the full season deserves its own recognition here. At the start of the campaign, he was a promising left-back competing for minutes. By the end of it, he is arguably the best fullback in the PSL — not on the strength of one performance but on the consistency of 28 league appearances in which his defensive output, crossing accuracy, and aerial contribution have all significantly exceeded last season's numbers. Cape Town City would have struggled without him.

The Common Thread

What connects these players? Coaching patience and tactical clarity. Each of them had coaches who identified what they needed to do to unlock a player's ability and gave them the time and structure to develop it. The lesson for PSL management — and for the clubs that routinely change coaches every 10 games — is simple: improvement takes time and demands stability.