TS Galaxy full back Ebrahim Seedat was one of a few players whose first pro contract was not with a South African club. Instead he found himself in the Belgium first division with Lokeren, where Seedat says he learnt so much about football.
“I just turned 18 and I signed my first professional contract with Lokeren on my birthday, the 18th of June,” Ebrahim Seedat told ThisIsFootball.Africa.
“We basically went there as a group from Africa Soccer Development (ASD). We played against top teams like Anderlecht. We won two games in Belgium including beating Anderlecht 4-1. That is where they basically scouted me and Ayanda Patosi, we joined KSC Lokeren from ASD.”
ASD used to be a non-profit soccer school based in Claremont, Cape Town, that produced the likes of Ayanda Patosi and Rushine De Reuck who is currently at Mamelodi Sundowns. Players would train twice a day, live together and get schooled together too. The soccer school had links with teams in Belgium and would take squads there so that they could have an opportunity to be scouted.
“ I have no regrets, God has already set my path on this earth. I basically spent a year there and I was taught so much in terms of football. It was something different to what I was used to. A beautiful experience, the way they do things in terms of the small things that count in football. At Lokeren I trained with the first team, had a pro contract but never made an official first team appearance. Unfortunately I was not given that opportunity. The experience was the best experience of my life, I learned so much.”
