SIYABONGA BHELE NOMVETE

FOOTBALL LEGEND

Siyabonga Eugene Nomvethe (born 2 December 1977) is a South African former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Nomvethe was born in the township of KwaMashu north of Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

Nomvethe played in several European leagues. Nomvethe represented the South Africa national team from his debut on 6 May 1999, and he played in the 2002 and 2010 World Cups. He is the highest all-time goal scorer in the PSL

Club career

Nomvethe started playing as a striker for the Durban-based lower league club Durban Cosmos in 1994, from which he moved to Claremont Blizzards.

African Wanderers

When Claremont Blizzards folded the following year, Nomvethe moved to African Wanderers in the second best South African league. He helped the club secure promotion and Nomvethe made his first appearances in the Premier Soccer League, playing alongside later Bafana Bafana striker Sibusiso Zuma and Phumlani Mkhize. In his debut season, he scored a brace against Chiefs.

Kaizer Chiefs

In July 1998, he moved on to become a part of the striking force of Kaizer Chiefs. Following 42 goals in 79 games for Kaizer Chiefs, Nomvethe moved abroad in 2001. He was then already touted as a coming star for the Bafana Bafana. Nomvethe made his debut on 8 August 1998 and scored in a 2–1 loss to Bloemfontein Celtic. He injured himself and was out of action for a few months; he did come back later on that season and scored a total of eight goals. Nomvethe was put in place of Pollen Ndlanya who left the team and score 22 goals in all competition including three in the BobSave Super Bowl to help Chiefs win their first silverware of the new millennium. He scored 11 goals on either half of the season and scored Chiefs first goal of the millennium on 8 January 2000 against his old team African Wanderers. He scored 18 goals in all competitions the next season scoring his tenth against Ria Stars on 21 January 2001. He scored his last goal on 24 April 2001 in a 5–0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic in a BobSave Super Bowl quarter final in the 65th minute which was his 58th for Chiefs.

Udinese

He signed with Italian club Udinese Calcio of the Serie A. In 2002, he was selected to play for South Africa at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He made his presence clear when scoring the winning goal of the 1–0 win against Slovenia Following two unsuccessful years at Udinese, Nomvethe was loaned out to smaller Italian clubs Salernitana Calcio and Empoli from January 2004 to June 2005. He was subsequently loaned out to Djurgårdens IF in Sweden, which he joined in August 2005 on a contract until the end of the 2005 season.In total, he made five league appearances and scored one goal for the club in the 2005 Allsvenskan. The club running for the title, the goal was the 2–1 goal in a 3–1 win against fellow title contender IFK Göteborg. He then permanently left Udinese in December 2005, moved back to South Africa, signing on for Orlando Pirates.

In July 2006, he once again moved abroad, this time to play for Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB) in the Danish Superliga. He stayed with AaB for three years, won the 2007–08 Danish Superliga championship with the club, and scored a goal in the penalty shoot-out as AaB was eliminated by Manchester City in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup round of 16.

Moroka Swallows

In 2009, Nomvethe moved back to South Africa to join Moroka Swallows, rivals of the two soweto giants, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates he represented during his domestic career. Nomvethe at the age of 34, won the PSL Footballer of the Year, Absa Player of the Season, Players’ Player of the Season and the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot with 20 goals at the 2011–12 PSL awards which was a total of R600,000.

AmaZulu

Nomvethe last played for AmaZulu in the Premier Soccer League having joined the team in January 2016. He was the all leading top scorer in the PSL.

International career

Nomvethe received his first cap in 1999 against Trinidad and Tobago, becoming a first team player from 2001 to 2007. He played in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and scored the game’s only goal against Slovenia. He also participated at the 2005 Gold Cup & 2006 African Cup of Nations until he lost his place on the national team, and he was not picked for either the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations nor the 2009 Confederations Cup under Joel Santana in South Africa.

But in April 2010, he was called up by Carlos Alberto Parreira for the friendly matches against Korea DPR and Jamaica. Nomvethe scored South Africa’s second in a 2–0 victory over Jamaica, with what was his first international goal in three. He was selected for South Africa’s squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and came off the bench as a substitute to play against France in South Africa’s third and last game at the tournament.

He scored 16 goals for South Africa

Coaching career

On 17 December 2020, it was announced that Siyabonga would be joining AmaZulu as an assistant coach to Benni McCarthy. This is his first coaching position.

Personal life

Nomvethe married his childhood sweetheart, Nompumelelo “Mpumi” Ngubane-Mpanza (b. 1980) on 6 July 2002 in a secret Zulu traditional wedding ceremony at KwaMashu D-section township outside Durban which was attended only by relatives and a few people from the local community. A week later, Mpanza faked a kidnapping plot and lied to the police in order to get his attention. Nomvethe and the police later found out that Mpanza had lied in order to go overseas to live with Nomvethe and according to the police, Mpanza was scared Nomvete would dump her and the baby for other girls in Italy. A local police spokesperson, superintendent Percy Mthembu, confirmed Mpanza was being investigated for obstructing the course of justice after she became unco-operative during their investigation. The angry star even threatened to kill the writer of a City Press article and said “I don’t want to spill blood, but I will be forced to. Kuzophuma isidumbu ngalendaba. I’m telling you,” he vowed. In February 2002, extortionists attempted to kidnap Mpanza and her baby Lifa twice at Inanda.