‘Iam learning fromthe best’

KICK OFF: You made your debut with the name ‘Nyongo’ at the back of your jersey. Now you go by the surname ‘Xoki’ and your first name is spelt in two different ways. Do you mind clarifying your full name?

Thapelo Xoki: My name is Thapelo. It’s just that it was misspelled at the Home Affairs. In my ID, it doesn’t have an ‘h’. That’s why it is spelt differently by people. It’s supposed to be Thapelo with an ‘h’. About my surname changes, I made my professional debut in 2014 as Nyongo. I used the surname, which is my mother’s, until 2018. Before I went to stay with my father, I was using the surname Nyongo all these years because my father never paid damages to my mother’s family. He only did it in 2017. Luckily for him my grandmother was still alive so my grandmother gave me the blessing to take the surname Xoki. Things were explained to me in terms of our culture, and I understood. That’s what led to the change of the surname.

Thanks for clarifying. Can tell us about your football journey …

Football has been a part of my life since the age of five. While I was staying with my mother, I used to play on the streets till late. At age of 6 I joined a club called Cape Town Liverpool in Khayelitsha. Later I would join Silver City, which was playing in the Khayelitsha LFA. From Silver City