Former Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Teko Modise says it is more important to win trophies with the team than individual accolades. 

The PSL will have its end-of-the-season awards on Sunday. The ceremony will be virtual and broadcast live on SuperSport PSL channel and SABC 1 at 8pm.

During his career, Modise won the Footballer of the Season twice at Pirates in 2008 and 2009. Those two individual awards were overshadowed by talks of him not carrying the team to titles as his former club SuperSport United were dominant in that era. 

Although Pirates won the league and MTN 8 when he was under their books, Modise carried that burden for some time. He would lift the weight of that criticism when he went to Sundowns and won two league titles, a Telkom Knockout and the CAF Champions League, and his last trophy was a top-eight title with Cape Town City.

Having experienced the feeling of winning individual awards and team titles, Modise says the latter has more significance. 

“Individual accolades are nice for the players, it’s just a pat on the back to show you’ve had a good season, and some of your peers voted for you. They’re always nice but the most important thing is to be at the podium with the team and win something with the team,” Modise told the media during the Nedbank Cup Final media event yesterday. 

“Yes, of course on the night of the awards the players will be looking forward to it, especially the ones that are nominated, I think they have had a great season. For me, it’ll be very interesting to see who takes the Footballer of the Season and the Players’ Player of the Season. You are being voted by the coaches and players, those are the two most important awards for the players.”

The Footballer of the Season award will be contested by Sundowns duo Ronwen Williams, Teboho Mokoena and Monnapule Saleng. Modise backs Mokoena and Saleng to win the gong. 

“Two players stood out for me, Teboho Mokoena stood out for me in the sense that he carried the performances to the national team and Champions League, and it’s a very difficult thing to be consistent as a footballer in SA.

“Monnapule Saleng, it was a breakthrough, he surprised everybody, he helped Pirates, he scored a lot of goals for Pirates and was an important player. Those two for me are the players who stood out and whoever takes it, I’ll be happy,” said the former Bafana Bafana international.