Siyabonga Nomvethe

South African former soccer player (born 1977)

Siyabonga Eugene Nomvethe (/n//ɒ//m/'/v//ɛ//t//eɪ/; born 2 December 1977) is a South African former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Nomvethe played in several European leagues. Nomvethe represented the South Africa national team from his debut on 6 May 1999, and he played in the 2002 and 2010 World Cups. He is the highest all time goal scorer in the PSL.

Nomvethe was born in the township of KwaMashu north of Durban in the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa.

Nomvethe started playing as a striker for the Durban based lower league club Durban Cosmos in 1994, from which he moved to Claremont Blizzards.

When Claremont Blizzards folded the following year, Nomvethe moved to African Wanderers in the second best South African league. He helped the club secure promotion and Nomvethe made his first appearances in the Premier Soccer League, playing alongside later Bafana Bafana striker Sibusiso Zuma and Phumlani Mkhize. In his debut season, he scored a brace against Chiefs.

In July 1998, he moved on to become a part of the striking force of Kaizer Chiefs. Following 42 goals in 79 games for Kaizer Chiefs, Nomvethe moved abroad in 2001. He was then already touted as a coming star for the Bafana Bafana. Nomvethe made his debut on 8 August 1998 and scored in a 2–1 loss to Bloemfontein Celtic. He injured himself and was out of action for a few months; he did come back later on that season and scored a total of eight goals. Nomvethe was put in place of Pollen Ndlanya who left the team and score 22 goals in all competition including three in the BobSave Super Bowl to help Chiefs win their first silverware of the new millennium. He scored 11 goals on either half of the season and scored Chiefs first goal of the millennium on 8 January 2000 against his old team African Wanderers. He scored 18 goals in all competitions the next season scoring his tenth against Ria Stars on 21 January 2001. He scored his last goal on 24 April 2001 in a 5–0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic in a BobSave Super Bowl quarter final in the 65th minute which was his 58th for Chiefs.

He signed with Italian club Udinese Calcio of the Serie A. In 2002, he was selected to play for South Africa at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He made his presence clear when scoring the winning goal of the 1–0 win against Slovenia. Following two unsuccessful years at Udinese, Nomvethe was loaned out to smaller Italian clubs Salernitana Calcio and Empoli F. C. from January 2004 to June 2005. He was subsequently loaned out for six months to Djurgårdens IF in Sweden, before he permanently left Udinese in December 2005. He moved back to South Africa, signing on for Orlando Pirates.

In July 2006, he once again moved abroad, this time to play for Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB) in the Danish Superliga. He stayed with AaB for three years, won the 2007–08 Danish Superliga championship with the club, and scored a goal in the penalty shoot out as AaB was eliminated by Manchester City in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup round of 16.

In 2009, Nomvethe moved back to South Africa to join Moroka Swallows, rivals of the two soweto giants, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates he represented during his domestic career. Nomvethe at the age of 34, won the PSL Footballer of the Year, Absa Player of the Season, Players' Player of the Season and the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot with 20 goals at the 2011–12 PSL awards which was a total of R600,000.

Nomvethe last played for AmaZulu in the Premier Soccer League having joined the team in January 2016. He was the all leading top scorer in the PSL.

On 17 December 2020, it was announced that Siyabonga would be joining AmaZulu as an assistant coach to Benni McCarthy. This is his first coaching position.

Nomvethe married his childhood sweetheart, Nompumelelo "Mpumi" Ngubane Mpanza (b. 1980) on 6 July 2002 in a secret Zulu traditional wedding ceremony at KwaMashu D section township outside Durban which was attended only by relatives and a few people from the local community.

Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nomvethe goal. + List of international goals scored by Siyabonga NomvetheNo. DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 27 November 1999 Pretoria, South Africa 1–0 1–0 Nelson Mandela Challenge2 6 February 2000 Kumasi, Ghana 1–0 1–0 2000 Africa Cup of Nations3 12 February 2000 Accra, Ghana 2–1 2–2 2000 Africa Cup of Nations4 29 April 2000 Rustenburg, South Africa 3–0 3–0 2000 COSAFA Cup5 25 February 2001 Blantyre, Malawi 2–0 2–1 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification6 30 January 2002 Ségou, Mali 3–0 3–1 2002 Africa Cup of Nations7 8 June 2002 Daegu, South Korea 1–0 1–0 2002 FIFA World Cup8 22 June 2003 Polokwane, South Africa 2–1 2–1 2004 Africa Cup of Nations qualification9 11 October 2003 Potchefstroom, South Africa 1–0 2–1 Nelson Mandela Challenge10 18 January 2004 Dakar, Senegal 1–0 1–2 Friendly match11 27 January 2004 Sfax, Tunisia 1–0 2–0 2004 Africa Cup of Nations12 2–013 10 July 2005 Los Angeles, United States 3–2 3–3 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup14 12 November 2005 Port Elizabeth, South Africa 2–2 2–3 Nelson Mandela Challenge15 2 June 2007 Durban, South Africa 4–0 4–0 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification16 28 April 2010 Durban, South Africa 2–0 2–0 Friendly match