Theophilus "Doctor" Khumalo (born 26 June 1967 in Soweto) is a retired South African soccer player. He is best known for being a star midfielder for Kaizer Chiefs as well as the South African national team, Bafana Bafana.

[edit] Career

Khumalo started his career in professional soccer in 1986, when he first played for the junior side of Kaizer Chiefs. His father, Eliakim "Pro" Khumalo, a renowned player of the 1970s and early 1980s, served as his mentor. Khumalo was promoted to the senior team the following year, when he started a game against Orlando Pirates.

Khumalo went on to become a star player for Kaizer Chiefs and did not play for any other South African soccer club, only leaving them for short overseas playing periods - he played for the Argentinian club Ferrocarril Oeste for six months in 1995 and in 1996 he played for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer.

The high-point of Khumalo's soccer career was the 1990s; he was part of the Kaizer Chiefs teams that won three South African league championship titles and five knockout trophies and was also voted South African Footballer of the Year in 1992. During his career at the club, he played in a total of 380 league and cup games, scoring 74 goals.

After the re-admission of South Africa to FIFA in 1992, Khumalo was selected to be a member of the South African squad for its first official international match in July of the same year, against Cameroon. South Africa won the match 1-0, due to a penalty scored by Khumalo. He was also a leading member of the winning South African national team at the 1996 African Nations Cup. He also represented South Africa in the 1998 Football World Cup. Throughout his whole international career, he played for South Africa 50 times (twice as captain), scoring nine goals ^[1] making him the 13th most capped South African footballer.

He retired from professional soccer in 2004. Although he was a winning co-coach (with Donald "Ace" Khuse) of Kaizer Chiefs in the 2002-2003 season (guiding the club to a 12-game unbeaten record and earning themselves a joint Coach of the Month PSL award), Khumalo has stated that his aim is to become a soccer administrator. Since 2004, Khumalo served as a television soccer commentator and presenter, being named afterwards South African Under-17 national coach.

One of Doctor Khumalo's most memorable games was perhaps the 1996 Mandela Cup match, where South Africa (Bafana Bafana) played against Brazil. Phil Masinga scored the first goal from Doctor Khumalo's corner kick. Khumalo then scored the second goal to make the score 2-0 in favour of the South Africans. Unfortunately for Bafana, Brazil came back in the second half, scoring three goals, to win the encounter 3-2.

Khumalo was voted 62nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004. He is married to Namibian beauty queen Blanche Garises.

[edit] Coaching career

He currently works as head coach for the Kaizer Chiefs Under-17 team. [1].

[edit] External links

• Doctor Khumalo
• Argentine Primera statistics

[edit] References

v • d • e South Africa squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Vonk • 2 Mnguni • 3 Nyathi • 4 Jackson • 5 Fish • 6 Masinga • 7 Fortune • 8 Phiri • 9 Bartlett • 10 Moshoeu • 11 Mkhalele • 12 Augustine • 13 Buckley • 14 Sikhosana • 15 Khumalo • 16 Baloyi • 17 McCarthy • 18 Morula • 19 Radebe • 20 Mokoena • 21 Issa • 23 Gopane • Coach: Troussier