Thabani Zuke (born 11 September 1998) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Lamontville Golden Arrows and the South Africa national team.

Club career

Zuke was born in

KwaMakhutha KwaMakhutha is a township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, located south-west of Durban and means "at the Makhutha location". Geography KwaMakhutha is situated approximately 29 km south-west of Durban and forms part of the eThekwini Metropoli ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

. After playing reserve football for Lamontville Golden Arrows, he broke into their first team in 2020.

International career

Zuke was part of the South Africa under-20 squad that won the

COSAFA U-20 Challenge Cup The COSAFA Under 20 Challenge is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by COSAFA. Participants Teams that can technically enter are: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * . Past winners The event scheduled f ...

, appearing in all of South Africa's matches at the tournament. He received his first call-up to the South Africa national team for

World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

fixtures against

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

. He appeared as a substitute in both of South Africa's qualifiers against Ethiopia.

Style of play

Zuke can play in multiple positions:

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuke, Thabani 1998 births Living people South African soccer players People from eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Soccer players from KwaZulu-Natal Association football defenders Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. players South African Premier Division players South Africa international soccer players South Africa youth international soccer players