Doctor Khumalo

Former South African Professional Footballer

Meet Doctor Khumalo

Doctor Khumalo is a former South African professional footballer. Popularly nicknamed Doctor for his tactical acumen, he was a renowned midfielder for Kaizer Chiefs and the South African national team.

Khumalo went on to become a star player for Kaizer Chiefs and did not play for any other South African football club, only leaving them for short overseas playing periods – he signed with FIFA agent Marcelo Houseman who first took him to Argentinian club Ferro Carril Oeste for six months in 1995, while in 1996 and 1997 he played for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer.

The high-point of Khumalo’s football 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 397 league and cup games, scoring 75 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 making him the 13th most capped South African footballer.

He retired in 2002 and then in 2004 as a player-coach. 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 football administrator. Since 2004, Khumalo served as a television football commentator and presenter, being named afterwards South African Under-17 national coach.

Kaizer Chiefs Return: Doctor Khumalo Makes A Comeback

Coming back to a beloved football club as a famous player is always a big deal for fans and other important people.

‘No script, no lies, just me letting people into my life’ – Doctor Khumalo on his documentary series