Cele on a mission to bring glory days at Chiefs

Thabo Cele is a man on a mission. Well, it seems he’s always been on one all 28 of his years growing up with many siblings in KwaMashu township, north of Durban, where he was raised by his mother, Zodwa.

As we sit for this interview, Cele appeared not too happy doing nothing as he was preoccupied with his next assignment — his afternoon solo session at the gym.

“Hey man, we need to push, things are not right,” the midfielder says of his mission to revive Kaizer Chiefs, the team he idolises. 

We meet at a swanky Sandton hotel, where Cele is temporarily residing after joining Chiefs on a three-and-half year contract following a seven-year spell in Europe where his professional football career took off.

But as he tells his story about how he got to Europe as a 19-year-old who had just finished his matric, you realise that, in his zeal to fulfil his football dream, he had to grow up quicker than most kids his age.

Cele had to leave his Durban home at the age of 14 to join the Stars of Africa Academy in Johannesburg, where for a year and half he got an opportunity to hone his skills under the watchful eye of the academy owner and coach Farook Khan and his staff. “I was lucky that even by that time my mother understood my love for football,” said Cele. 

“When I talk to my friends now, they tell me the decision to leave home when I was young was what made things click for me. When we grow up in the township, we have dreams, but we tend not to take them seriously, and there’s a lot that can distract you. So, leaving home opened my eyes because at the academy your mental capacity is strengthened quite quickly.”

But when Cele returned home from Johannesburg aged 16, his dream to become a professional footballer looked distant. After spending a month with his local amateur club Induna FC he was scouted by another institution — the KZN Academy.

Cele, alongside one of the now established Bafana Bafana midfielders, Sphephelo Sithole, was among the young players who eventually earned contracts with overseas clubs, particularly in Portugal where the KZN Academy had strong links through its CEO Carlos Catalino.

As a player, if you don’t have a dream of representing your country, I don’t think you’re serious. I always had that objective since I was young. I’d say it’s still my objective to represent my country 

—  Thabo Cele, Kaizer Chiefs midfielder

It was through the Durban academy’s annual under-19 International tournament that Cele, who Catalino once described as “an unbelievable talent and a go-getter”, would in August 2016 earn a contract at Real SC, a Portuguese club that competes in the Liga 3 (third tier).    

But Cele had to wait anxiously back home for Real SC to indicate if they’d sign him up after a three-week trial in Portugal. “It felt like a long wait, and I was beginning to doubt they’d take me but, eventually, I was told by the academy that they want to sign me.”

How was the response at home, especially from his mom after his initial breakthrough? “My mother was always there with me from the very beginning. So, when things happened, she understood. She understood that I love football and luckily, she also pushed me to get my matric,” he said.

Cele’s five-year stay in Portugal was never rosy as he struggled to fulfil his main aim, which was to play in the Primera Liga. There was hope he would get there after signing with Benfica B in 2017, but the club released him in 2018.

While struggling to establish his name in Portugal, Cele was lucky that he kept getting call-ups to play for South Africa’s junior national teams, the under-20 and under-23, and was able to represent the country at the Fifa U-20 World Cup in South Korea in 2017, as well as at the delayed 2020 Olympics in Paris. 

Cele says it was after the Paris Olympics in 2021 that he first heard of Amakhosi’s interest. “Eish, it’s Kaizer Chiefs: it’s a dream come true,” Cele remembers with a sheepish smile when he talks about the club he grew up supporting.

But before Cele could come to Chiefs, there was another two-year detour he had to take playing in the top leagues of Poland (for Radomial Radom) and Russia (Fakel Voronezh) and he says that experience was vital to his career. 

As a staunch Chiefs fan, Cele says he was always keeping tabs on what was happening at Naturena and he understands the eagerness to bring back the glory days. “I’m also a fan and it (the current situation) affects me,” says Cele of Chiefs, who wrap up the 2024-2025 campaign with two sold-out fixtures against their Soweto archrivals Orlando Pirates.

Cele has a score to settle with the Bucaneers as he lost against them in his debut for Chiefs in January when he came on as a substitute. Patrick Maswanganyi’s last-minute penalty gave Pirates a 1-0 victory.

Chiefs faced Pirates in the second Betway Premiership round at the FNB Stadium yesterday and will meet them again in Durban on Saturday in the Nedbank Cup final. 

The Soweto derby will pit Cele against Thalente Mbatha, the Pirates midfielder Cele grew up with in KwaMashu. “It’s something very nice because we’re both from ekasi (township) and we both grew up separated by a road... there’s Area 3 and Area 4 (in G section). We used to play against each other as kids on the roads, and our team was always better because Thalente’s friends were not that good.”

With his combative play in the middle of the park, where he always intends to control the proceedings, Cele has earned himself the fitting nickname of “Imeya yaKwaMashu” (the mayor of KwaMashu) from the hordes of Chiefs supporters. “It’s nice when people give you good names, interesting names. But in the end, it’s all about the work and focusing on what you have to do,” he says with a chuckle.

Cele’s return to South Africa may boost his hopes of eventually winning a Bafana call-up, but he says he understands coach Hugo Broos’ reasoning on Chiefs players and Bafana Bafana. “As a player, if you don’t have a dream of representing your country, I don’t think you’re serious. I always had that objective since I was young. I’d say it’s still my objective to represent my country.

“I think there’s truth in what Hugo Broos is saying, especially for a team like Chiefs. It’s important that we progress and we’re winning so that it’s easy for him when he has to pick some players from us.”

Thabo Cele's Bio

Born:

January 15 1997

Clubs:

2016-2017 Real SC (Portugal)

2017-2018: Benfica B (Portugal)

2018-2021: Cova Piedada (Portugal)

2021-2023: Radomiak (Poland)

2023-2024: Fakel Voronezh (Russia)