Durban City cup win a boost for Bafana - Pitso Dladla

The Citizens secured their first major topflight trophy with a 2-1 victory over TS Galaxy at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, capping off a remarkable 2026 cup run. 

Speaking after the match, Dladla argued that success for so-called smaller clubs in the Betway Premiership strengthens the national team by widening the player pool and creating more competitive options for selection.

"Nationally, it's beyond being competitors now, we want to improve the game and want to make sure we coach the team and prepare the players in such a way where the national team can benefit," said Dladla.

"So, basically, the scale has changed now. We talk football in order to improve it, we're no longer talking football just [because] we are competitors.

"When we are together as coaches, we forget which team you come from, we just discuss football, so I think that is what has been helping this game.

"And the role being played by the coaches, I'm sure, no one really knows about it but when we have coaching symposiums, that's when we really discuss it.

"So today is no longer about being competitors, it's about improving the game holistically."

READ: Dladla pushing Durban City towards stronger Top 8 position

City also now get an opportunity to feature in the CAF Confederation Cup next season, a challenge Dladla added is remarkable for a team in its debut campaign.  

"It was important for us to win this cup, considering the fact that we have just relocated to Durban last season, when we got promoted from the NFD to the elite league," he added.

"Our first season in the Betway Premiership and we are able to win this magnificent cup, for us as a team, it means a lot in terms of the identity and growing the Durban City name.

"It also means a lot for the chairman [Farouk Kadodia] himself, the board of directors, it's something they have been talking about, that we are the newborns in the city and now we're representing the province.

"Like you mentioned, playing in Africa, indirectly that has now meant we're representing the country South Africa, so it's something that means a lot to us as a team, holistically."