Safa chief medical officer Dr Thulani Ngwenya believes that players in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) will need at least three or four weeks to prepare themselves for the ‘high-intensity exercise’ associated with playing professional football.

The league will hold a hold a board of governors meeting to deliberate on the resumption of the 2019-20 season on Tuesday to discuss all the requirements and protocols needed to return back to action.

Once all the regulations are agreed upon, training followed by competitive matches are expected to quickly begin as the league looks to finish before the 31 August.

Ngwenya, though, admits it is concerning that players will be thrust into highly competitive and intense competition after nearly three-and-a-half months out.

‘We ought to thank Fifa. One of our concerns as sports physicians was the demand for high-intensity exercise, especially after what was almost a rest of so long, that would need us to prepare extensively and adequately,’ Ngwenya explained to members of Safja.

‘What we thank Fifa for is that now they are allowing up to five substitutions, which then helps in terms of managing the load on players.

‘Now already the teams know of the high demand [on the players], and we might have a lot of injuries, and what the physical trainers advise is that about three to four weeks is needed to really prepare for high-intensity exercise.

‘This is really because the players were not in total shutdown and they were doing individual programmes at home that were given by their respective trainers. But even having said that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we might not have one or two injuries.’