Lebogang Manyama (born 13 September 1990), nicknamed “Kaka” is a retired South African professional

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 is the assistant coach of Cape Town City F.C.

Early life

Manyama was born in

Tembisa Thembisa, formerly Tembisa, is a large Township (South Africa), township situated to the north of Kempton Park, Gauteng, Kempton Park on the East Rand, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1957 when black people were resettled from Alexandr ...

but grew up in

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

, north of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. He attended Northview High School.

Club career

Ajax Cape Town

Lebogang Manyama made his professional debut for Ajax Cape Town on 20 August 2010 against

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

, winning (4–3) on penalties after a 1–1 draw, in a quarterfinal match of the 2010 MTN 8 tournament at

Athlone Stadium The Athlone Stadium is a stadium in Athlone on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. It is used mostly for soccer matches and it is the home ground of Cape Town Spurs. The stadium holds 34,000 people and it was built in 1972. The stadiu ...

in Cape Town. He was acquired by Ajax Cape Town in the summer of 2010 as a transfer from FC Alexandra. During his time at Ajax he was a stand out player in the South African Premier League and was subsequently acquired by Supersport United.

SuperSport United

He went on to play for Supersport United who later on loaned him to

Mpumalanga Black Aces Black Aces was a South African football club that played in the Premier Soccer League. Aces usually played their home games in the Mpumalanga province but were based and trained in Johannesburg. History The original club was founded in 1937 by ...

for the 2015/16 season. He had a good season however his season came to an end after he suffered an injury during the latter stages of the season.

Cape Town City FC

In 2016, Lebo was signed by Cape Town City F.C. and was subsequently named Captain for the team's inaugural 2016/17

Premier Soccer League The Premier Soccer League (PSL) is the administrative body for professional soccer leagues and cups in South Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, and was founded in 1996 following an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnant ...

campaign. He made history in the club's opening PSL season by guiding them to the prestigious Telkom Knockout Cup trophy, in a 2-1 victory over Supersport United. In this season he was the League's top goalscorer and named South African player of the year. His role at Cape Town City has seen him cement his place in the national team and is regarded currently as the best player in South Africa.

Kaizer Chiefs

After a short spell with the Turkish side Konyaspor, Manyama signed for Kaizer Chiefs He went on to lead the Glamour boys' forward line alongside ex-Sundowns duo of Khama Billiat and Leanardo Castro alongside Serbian marksman Samir Nukovic to help Chiefs finish second to Sundowns and subsequently qualify for the CAF Champions League.

International career

Manyama has made 11 appearances for the South African National Team netting 1 goal. He is mostly used as an attacking midfielder or false-nine in the national team as he interchanges comfortably between a midfield or striking role. He made his Bafana Bafana debut in 2013 and continues to be selected, with the most recent call-ups in June 2017 for the AFCON qualifier against Nigeria and the international friendly against Zambia.

International goals

:''Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first.''

Early Retirement

In June 2023, Manyama announced his retirement at 32. A persistent knee injury had cut short his career. Having been sidelined since March 2022, Manyama parted ways with Chiefs last year, and despite nearing a return to his former club Cape Town City, he remained without a team. The inability to recover from a knee ailment has now been confirmed as a consequence of a

misdiagnosis A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care (" iatrogenesis"), whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient. This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a disease, injury, syndrome, behavior, ...

, leading to a conclusion to Manyama's football playing career.

Honours

Club

;Cape Town City FC * 2016 Telkom Knockout: Winner * 2016–17 South African Premier Division: Player of the month - October, November, December, February ;Supersport United * 2014 Telkom Knockout: Winner

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Manyama, Lebogang 1990 births Living people People from Tembisa Northern Sotho people South African men's soccer players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players SuperSport United F.C. players Mpumalanga Black Aces F.C. players Cape Town City F.C. (2016) players Konyaspor footballers South African Premier Division players Süper Lig players Men's association football midfielders Soccer players from Gauteng 21st-century South African sportsmen Balobedu people