Steve Komphela (born 1 July 1967) is a South African football coach and a former player who is the manager of South African Premier Soccer League club

Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional Association football, football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the South African Premiership, Premiership, the fi ...

Early life

Steve was born in Golden Valley farm, 20 km outside

Kroonstad Kroonstad ( in Afrikaans) is a town in Free State, South Africa, consisting of the following suburbs: Brentpark, Constantia, Constantia Park, Dawid Malanville, Elandia, Gelukwaarts, Goedgedacht, Heuningspruit, Industria, Jordania, Koek ...

to Jack Koyi Koyo and Nomalanga Komphela as the youngest of 11 children. Politician Butana Komphela is his brother. Komphela became a teacher by profession after he got his teacher's diploma at Tshiya College in Free State.

Club career

Komphela started out at NSL Second Division side Klerksdorp City and later Qwa Qwa Stars where he earned promotion to the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

. He made his NSL debut on 9 February 1986 in a 4–1 win over

Witbank 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 ...

. In 1992, Komphela helped his team to a third-place finish in the league and was voted the NSL Players' Player of the Year. He later joined Kaizer Chiefs where he played all 34 league games and signed a contract overseas on 16 August 1993 moving to

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

for the second half of 1993/94 season alongside fellow South African Teboho Moloi. He retired in 1997.

Outside football

Komphela is married to Mamoepi Komphela, and together they have three kids: Nombuyiselo, Nomalanga, and Noxolo. He taught at the

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 ...

Secondary School but apart from being a life orientation teacher and a professional footballer, Komphela was also a TV presenter. He hosted his own talk show on Çanakkale Dardanelspor's television channel. Komphela was approached by SABC to be the host of a football talk show but rejected this opportunity. Steve also tutors the

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 ...

youth team. He said the youth need brains to play football because "without brains a footballer is just a headless chicken chasing a ball". He also takes part in many youth uplifting programs.

International career

Komphela is a founder member of the new national team of

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 ...

. He made his debut on 7 July 1992 in a 1–0 win over

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. On 24 October 1992 against Congo, his 7th cap, he captained the team in its second World Cup qualifier. He played every minute of the first 22 internationals. He captained the team for the 18th and last time in a 2–2 draw against

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

on 22 November 1995 which was his 24th cap. Having played almost half of the team's internationals up to December 1995. He was not selected for the

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations, also known as the Coca-Cola 1996 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who rep ...

for obvious reasons.

Coaching career

Komphela began his coaching career with

Manning Rangers F.C. Manning Rangers is a South African Association football, football club based in Durban. The side is best remembered as the inaugural champions of the South African Premiership, Premiership, the first in the Premier Soccer League era. History Th ...

in 2002. Between 2002 and 2015, he coached several clubs, in which he all worked for a single season. In 2015, he joined

Kaizer Chiefs F.C. Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) is a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premiership. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Kings" or "Chiefs" in Zu ...

on a three-year contract. Kaizer Chiefs won the Macufe Cup in 2016 and 2017, the Carling Black Label Cup in 2016 and 2017, and the Maize Cup in 2017 under Komphela. He resigned as head coach of the club with immediate effect following a 2-0 Nedbank Cup semi-final loss to Free State Stars in April 2018. In July 2018, he joined

Bloemfontein Celtic Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club (simply known as Celtic) is a South African soccer club based in Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein Celtic had a large fan base in the Free State and competed in the Premiership before selling their status to Royal ...

which was undergoing financial struggles at the time. Shortly after he started his new career with

, he started the 2018-19

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 ...

league with a huge surprise. He won the first six consecutive league games and got a 2–2 draw against

Kaizer Chiefs Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) is a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premiership. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Kings" or "Chiefs" in Zu ...

, after which his team was down to 2–0 at one point later in the second-half. He also beat

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 ...

in that first leg of the season. He managed Golden Arrows but resigned a day before he was announced as the new

coach. He was announced to coach Mamelodi Sundowns on the club's Twitter on Monday 12 October 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Komphela, Steve 1967 births Living people South African men's soccer players Men's association football defenders South Africa men's international soccer players Free State Stars F.C. players Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players Gaziantepspor footballers Çanakkale Dardanelspor footballers South African Premier Division players Süper Lig players South African expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey South African expatriate sportspeople in Turkey South African soccer managers Manning Rangers F.C. managers Dynamos F.C. (South Africa) managers Durban City F.C. (2024) managers Free State Stars F.C. managers Platinum Stars F.C. managers South Africa national soccer team managers Kaizer Chiefs F.C. managers Bloemfontein Celtic F.C. managers Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. managers Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. managers Moroka Swallows F.C. managers 20th-century South African sportsmen