Steve Komphela

Steve Komphela (born 1 July 1967) is a South African manager and former footballer. He is the former manager of Maritzburg United, and current coach of Kaizer Chiefs.^[3]

Early life

He was born in Golden Valley farm, 20km outside Kroonstad to Jack Koyi Koyo and Nomalanga Komphela as the youngest of 11 children. Komphela became a teacher by profession after he got his teacher's diploma at Tshiya College in Free State.^[4]

Club career

Komphela started out at NSL Second Division side Klerksdorp City^[5] and later Qwa Qwa Stars which he earned promotion to the National Soccer League with.He made his NSL debut on 9 February 1986 in a 4--1 win over Witbank Aces.^{[6] [7]} 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 for the second half of 1993/94 season alongside fellow South African Tebogo Moloi.^[8] He retired in 1997.^[9]

Outside football

Apart from being a teacher and a professional footballer, Komphela was also a TV presenter. He hosted his own talk show on television channel Canakkale Dardanelspor AS where he sang Turkish folk songs and told jokes.^[10][11]

International career

Komphela is a founder member of the new national team of South Africa. He made his debut on 7 July 1992 in a 1–0 win over Cameroon. On 24 October 1992 against Congo, his 7th cap, he captained the team in its second ever 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 on 22 November 1995 which was his 24th cap.^[12] Having played almost half of the teams internationals up to December 1995. He was not selected for the 1996 African Cup of Nations.^[13]

National team statistics

^[14]

References