Richard Henyekane (28 September 1983 – 7 April 2015) was a South African professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who also represented the

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Early and personal life

Henyekane hails from Kimberley's

Galeshewe Galeshewe is a township in Kimberley, South Africa. Within the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality in the Northern Cape Province, it is named after Kgosi Galeshewe. History The township of Galeshewe was founded in 1878 after diamonds were discove ...

township; his younger brother

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, who died in December 2014 in a car accident, was also a professional footballer.

Career

Henyekane made his professional debut for Premier United-Hellenic against

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos is a South African soccer club based in Johannesburg that plays in the ABC Motsepe League. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. At the end of the 2021–22 National First Division season, the ...

on 8 February 2004. He joined Golden Arrows in the 2004/05 season, with his first goal coming in Arrows' 1–1 draw against Manning Rangers on 19 January 2005. Henyekane, who played as a striker or attacking right wing position, had his career best season with Golden Arrows in the PSL. The striker bagged three hat-tricks during the 2009–2010 PSL season ending with 19 league goals, as well as a further

Telkom Knockout The Carling Knockout Cup is a South African professional soccer knockout competition which comprises the 16 teams in the South African Premiership. The Carling Knockout Cup is the third of the three main cups administered by the PSL along with ...

hat-trick, finishing with 23 goals for the season. The striker was then snapped up by Mamelodi Sundowns on a lucrative three-year contract as a free agent. On 4 March 2012, his team set a record in the

Nedbank Nedbank Group is a financial services group in South Africa offering wholesale and retail banking services as well as insurance, asset management, and wealth management. Nedbank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nedbank Group. Headquarter ...

Cup when they beat Powerlines FC by 24–0, with Henyekane scoring five of the goals. He joined Free State Stars on loan from Sundowns in the January Transfer Window of 2014, with the move made permanent in July 2014. During this time, he made 18 league appearances and scored seven goals in the process. Henyekane had made 17 appearances in the 2014–2015 season; his last match was as a substitute appearance against AmaZulu at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on 4 April 2015, and his last goal came in Stars' 1–1 draw with

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club, referred to as simply Pirates, is a South African professional football club based in Orlando, Soweto that plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as Betway Premiership. The team plays i ...

at Charles Mopeli stadium on 6 May 2014.

International career

Henyekane was first called up for international duty in 2009 but was left out of the

Joel Santana Joel Natalino Santana (born 25 December 1955) is a Brazilian football coach and former player. He was recently in charge of Vasco da Gama in 2014. Biography Born in Rio de Janeiro, Santana played his entire career as a central defender in his n ...

squad for the

2009 Fifa Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth FIFA Confederations Cup, Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton ...

. He later made his international debut in a 3–1 loss against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

on 12 August 2009. Henyekane made nine official appearances for the South Africa national team. He died in a car accident on 7 April 2015.

References

External links

Richard Henyekane Transferring To Mamelodi Sundowns At The End Of The Season , Goal.com
* http://www.football365.co.za/player/0,25236,14344_311906,00.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Henyekane, Richard 1983 births 2015 deaths Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Free State Stars F.C. players Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Soccer players from Kimberley, Northern Cape Road incident deaths in South Africa South Africa men's international soccer players South African men's soccer players 21st-century South African sportsmen