On Wednesday Chippa United unveiled sixteen players as they prepare for the 2022/2023 DStv Premiership under new Head Coach Daine Klate, and iDiski Times unpacked the list…
While players like Justice Chabalala and Matome Mathiane are well known, there are others some supporters may not be familiar with.
Chabalala was of course at Orlando Pirates, though spent much of his time as Buccaneer, on loan at other clubs. The former Free State Stars player’s first loan spell away from Pirates was actually at Chippa United. Chabalala, who turned 30 last week, also spent two seasons on loan at Bloemfontein Celtic, while last season he was at Sekhukhune United.
Mathiane is of course the former Golden Arrows captain. One of the more under-rated defenders in South African football, the 33-year-old spent nine and a half years in Durban where he featured in over 150 games, after joining from The Vardos back in 2013.
Aviwe Mqokozo is not exactly a new signing, as he gets promoted to the senior team after starring for the club’s Diski side for the past few seasons. He captained the team in the recent Diski Shield and is highly rated by the club’s youth department. He happens to share a birthday with Bafana assistant coach Helman Mkhalele (and this writer).
Chippa fans will be familiar with former youth player Diego Appollis, who left the club to join Cape Town City two seasons ago. Appollis hasn’t been far this past season, as he turned out for Chippa’s ‘sister club’ BCM Stars in the ABC Motsepe League
Another familiar name is Khanyisile Mayo, the younger brother of Cape Town City’s Khanyiso Mayo, and son of former Bafana Bafana star Patrick Mayo. He and his brother started playing football in Gqeberha, before moving to the SuperSport United Academy. The 22-year-old had loan spells at Maccabi and also at AmaTuks, but while he has eight appearances, has only ever started one professional game (for AmaTuks). Mayo was with Appollis at BCM Stars last season.
28-year-old Zanoxolo Mduli is making a mini-return to the pro game, having last featured for Royal Eagles back in 2020. He was also playing at BCM Stars prior to signing.
Get unlimited, fast 5G home wifi. Delivered to you fast from rain.co.za
After playing backup at Royal AM last season, 25-year-old Sipho Chaine will look to resurrect a promising career at Chippa. Having come through the ranks at Bloemfontein Celtic, Chaine started getting regular game time in Bloem before the franchise was sold to Royal AM. While he only featured once last season, he played in 31 games in all competitions for Celtic.
Having just missed out on promotion, a trio of players join from Cape Town All Stars and will get their opportunity to play in the top flight anyway.
All three are players with great potential, starting with defender Azola Ntsabo. The left-footed 23-year-old was a stand-out player as All Stars reached the playoffs, and he featured in 21 games last season.
Then there’s 22-year-old Brooklyn Poggenpoel is a talented young midfielder, with great potential. The former Bidvest Wits youth player has been gaining experience in the second tier for a couple of seasons now, getting better and better each campaign. He spent three years with Roger De Sa’s Cape Umoya United, before crossing over to All Stars at the start of the season when Umoya sold their franchise, and De Sa became coach at All Stars.
Thirdly, Sirgio Kammies has had a great mini-comeback to professional football over the last two seasons. Like Poggenpoel, he was at Umoya with De Sa, before moving over to All Stars. The gifted full-back, with pace and skill, was once a budding star at the Ajax Cape Town academy. He was promoted back in the 2016/17 campaign, but only made 20 appearances for Ajax before he was released in 2019.
Shaquille Abrahams also once played for All Stars, but the 25-year-old winger didn’t have a professional club last season. He was starring for Hout Bay United in the Western Cape ABC Motsepe League. But Abrahams is no stranger to PSL football. Abrahams was one of Cape Town City’s first ‘youth’ players, and featured seven times for the Citizens. HE also had a few loan spells in the NFD, including stints at Ubuntu Cape Town, All Stars and Umoya, while two seasons ago he was Bizano Pondo Chiefs.
27-year-old Siseko Manona makes a return to professional football after a number of years in the wilderness. The former AmaTuks youth player has played for Vasco Da Gama, Moroka Swallows and Baroka but hasn’t been in the top tiers for the past three years.
Yurrig Conwood also returns to the club after a few years away. The 25-year-old defender has spent much of his career in the ABC Motsepe Leagues, but did spend the 2019/2020 campaign with Richards Bay, where he made seven appearances. He spent last season captaining Peace Makers in the Eastern Cape ABC.
The promising 22-year-old Nkosikhona Dube came through the ranks at Golden Arrows, but never got off the bench for the first team. He spent last season at Uthongathi, where he scored five times in 24 appearances.
They also announced two foreigners, firstly Ali Abdi Banda, a name familiar to South African football fans, with the defender having previously played for Baroka and Highlands Park. However when Highlands were bought by TS Galaxy, Banda was found on the outside, and the former Simba star returned home to Tanzania where he joined Mtibwa Sugar.
Finally, Elmo Kambindu, who is lesser known but is a full Namibian International. The 29-year-old forward was in Mozambique last season playing for Costa do Sol, having joined them from Mighty Gunners in his home country.
