Benedict Vilakazi (born 9 August 1982 in

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

) is a retired

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who last played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Botswana Meat Commission The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) is a non-profit body which was established by the government of the newly independent Botswana in 1965. Its main functions are the buying, slaughtering, processing, and marketing of all beef and beef products wit ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. He was noted as one of the smallest professional international footballers during his time (standing at a mere 1.57 m) but made up for this with a strong physical presence. He was born in

Diepkloof Diepkloof is a large zone of Soweto township in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is also sometimes referred to as Diepmeadow, if considered as a single township with the nearby Meadowlands (although there is Orlando in between). Diepkloo ...

and is nicknamed "Tso" and "Little Napoleon" due to his leading skills.

Career

Vilakazi played for

at the

2006 African Nations Cup The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split int ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. His professional career was rocked by sex scandals with juveniles including being dragged to court on allegation of

statutory rape In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent (the age required to legally consent to the behaviour). Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sex ...

. He was however acquitted of the charge as it was alleged that it was with consent. The complainant has since given birth to his son. He publicly apologised to soccer fans after his acquittal. The sex scandal also prohibited him going through with his move to the Swedish side

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, , is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum Skansen, the small resident ...

that was supposed to go through right before the scandal hit. On 27 July 2007, he was transferred to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curr ...

. He was given a 5-year contract. Due to sickness he had not adjusted to the European style of football, and therefore he played only a few games in the Danish league. Vilakazi returned to South Africa July 2008, signing a contract with Pretoria-based Mamelodi Sundowns, where he was also joined by former

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklu ...

striker

Sibusiso Zuma Sibusiso Wiseman Zuma (born 23 June 1975) is a South African former professional footballer who played as a forward or midfielder. Club career Early career Born in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma started his career for South African clubs Mighty ...

. After not making an impact at Sundowns, Vilakazi was loaned out to Mpumalanga Black Aces for the 2010–11 PSL season. However, Vilakazi had a fallout with Black Aces' management due to missing several training sessions and other disciplinary problems. Consequently, the Sundowns did not renew his contract after its expiration at the end of the 2010–11 season. Vilakazi had short spells at

Black Leopards Black Leopards FC is a South African professional association football, football club based in Thohoyandou, Vhembe, Vhembe Region, Limpopo, that plays in the National First Division. History The club was founded in 1983 by business people in ...

and in

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

with Malanti Chiefs before moving to

Botswana Premier League The Botswana Premier League is the highest level Association football, football league in Botswana. Organised by the Botswana Football Association, the league was formed in 1978 to replace the pre-independence Bechuanaland Union African Soccer L ...

team

Notwane FC Notwane FC is a football club from Botswana based in Gaborone. It is named after the Notwane River. Notwane is owned by GMG Global Investments, a subsidiary of GMG Holdings and recently made major scoop by signing former South African internatio ...

in July 2013. In November 2013, he terminated his contract with Notwane after not receiving his salary and signing-on fee, and joined

on a one-year contract., Tso remains the highest scorer of all time for Orlando Pirates, with 52 goals. Tso had a stint as the head coach of Orange Vaal Professionals, a team campaigning in the

ABC Motsepe league The SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by ...

, the 3rd tier of South African Football.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilakazi, Benedict 1982 births Living people Soccer players from Soweto Zulu people South African men's soccer players South African expatriate men's soccer players South Africa men's international soccer players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players South African Premier Division players Orlando Pirates F.C. players AaB Fodbold players Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Danish Superliga players Men's association football midfielders Mpumalanga Black Aces F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Black Leopards F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Eswatini South African expatriate sportspeople in Eswatini Notwane F.C. players Gilport Lions F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Botswana South African expatriate sportspeople in Botswana 21st-century South African sportsmen