Former Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs academy product Thabang Lebese admits he’s ready for the next step of his career after starring for the University of Johannesburg in the Varsity Football tournament.
Lebese, who has a BA Degree in Politics is currently in his second year of Sports Management at UJ and was part of the squad that lifted the title for the very first time last season.
His journey in the game hasn’t been smooth sailing and despite moving off the track that looked to be an inevitable rise to professional football he says he’s more determined than ever.
Having started his journey at the age of 11 at the Augusto Palacios Academy, the towering defender was noticed by Orlando Pirates but after the academy was closed he went on to join rivals Kaizer Chiefs.
At Amakhosi between 2013 and 2015, he captained the U17 and U19 teams but opted to leave club football in order to focus solely on his academics as he looked to join UJ shortly after.
“I went to UJ for trials and I wasn’t picked at first, then I went back to Pirates and one day we played against UJ, that’s where the coaches saw me playing in an official game and they called me back,” he tells iDiski Times about his journey at the institution which started in 2019.
“Working under coach Karabo [Mogudi], he’s an intelligent coach, he knows how to manipulate minds, he knows how to groom players, it’s been a great experience that I’ve grown a lot from.”
With UJ leading the table after the round-robin stages, they have set themselves up for a home semi-final at the Soweto campus against 2019 champions North-West University and Lebese feels their rise over the past two editions is due to the close-knit relationship that’s been developed within the squad.
“I think the secret of our success over the past two years has been brotherhood and understanding each other well. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We know how to function as a team,” he explained.
“Leading the table this season has always been one of our main goals since we did it last season too in the Varsity Football competition, it’s been a milestone this season because we started off slow, but we managed to pick up [form] in the friendly games the coach prepared for us.”
Lebese went on to admit that he’s been inspired to continue his path by the likes of TS Galaxy star Given Msimango, who was once on the books of UJ before his rise to the Rockets – and he’s not giving up on his ultimate dream to move abroad.
“The tournament itself has helped me improve my professional football aspirations, now I can see myself playing for one of the PSL teams as the likes of Given Msimango has been able to do it and we play the same position,” he added.
“I find motivation from that, he’s actually my role model in the league and actually a player that’s coming from Varsity Football also. I’m looking at playing at the NFD or top-flight level and using it as a stepping stone to play overseas, it’s always been my dream.”
UJ will face NWU on Thursday evening at the Soweto Campus Football Stadium with kickoff at 19h00, while the University of the Free State and Tshwane University of Technology face off earlier in the day at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.
