If Mohau Nkota has made moving to the Saudi Pro League look easy, it’s because homesickness is a challenge he faced and conquered before at Orlando Pirates. A story about the people who got him through it and brought out the confident kid from Kimberley:

3 years later the boys are heading to the continent’s biggest football showpiece 🙌🏿

🐆 I Le Congo 🇨🇩 est plébiscité en vue de la prochaine Coupe d’Afrique des Nations ! Ils les placent favoris ou gagnants : •⁠ ⁠Carl Anka @theathleticfc/@ankaman616 Ils les placent outsiders : •⁠ ⁠Leonard Solms @ESPNAfrica/@LeonSolms •⁠ ⁠⁠Ahmed Walid

The only team that stopped PSG from winning 7 trophies in 2025 👀 Chelsea Football Club 🏆

QPR & Bafana CB Tylon Smith ran 30 mins to & from training when rising through the ranks at @StellenboschFC. The son of a single mother in Jamestown, all he wanted was a better life for her. #AFCON2025 is a challenge the youngster is ready for @ESPNAfrica:

Listen to some lovely @ESPNFC Afcon conversations here. Ignore @EddyDove, he always gets it, well, almost right 😜 But watch for some good stuff from @LeonSolms esp on @BafanaBafana https://t.co/2oCHcVkoKA

✍️ More from @LeonSolms here:

Anyone who follows my work knows my respect for Hugo Broos. His irreverence for South African politics is usually a strength as he disrupts the system. However, on Mbekezeli Mbokazi, he is badly wrong factually & diplomatically. @ESPNAfrica @amcalabrese12 https://t.co/UH2FuCmv8p

🟣 “Ubuyile umnikazi we jersey, ukhona kwi final squad. I’ll hand it back” ~ @BafanaBafana attacker Mohau Nkota on handing back the no.10 jersey to Rele Mofokeng. 💜 The love & respect between these boys…the big tournament is calling! #FarMoreForTheFans |

On @ESPNUK discussing Bafana Bafana’s FIFA World Cup draw. I come in around the 28-minute mark. My fellow @ESPNAfrica writer @EddyDove gives more brilliant insight into Africa’s history and chances at this tournament throughout the video.

From being Chelsea's first Black player to becoming King Canners. A small minority tried to stop me but the Chelsea family lifted me up. That love wins every time 💙

Can South Africa win AFCON? 🇿🇦 ✍️ @LeonSolms https://t.co/ZeFWjPoAtk

We have yet to understand that if I am starving, you are in danger. If people think that my danger makes them safe, we are in trouble. -James Baldwin

Bafana Bafana are almost always a better team when Mohau Nkota is on the pitch. It’s most obvious when he’s delivering moments like this, but I see it even in most of the games when he isn’t at his best.

Only accounts for a tiny percentage of those people but many were coerced into participating in the apartheid gov’s crimes against humanity via conscription. I feel many subconsciously hope SA fails so they can convince themselves they didn’t fight on the wrong side of history.

I don't understand South Africans who live in South Africa but want South Africa to fail and are gleeful about our challenges, problems, and mistakes? What is your endgame?

Thabo Moloisane on Bafana Bafana’s “winning mentality” coming from Hugo Broos and CAF club experience — and his sense of loyalty to @StellenboschFC in the final year of his contract:

The thoughts of everyone at Chelsea FC are with our former player Oscar and his family at this difficult time. 💙

Frank Lampard knew it was time to retire after a chat with Luke Shaw 😂: 🗣️ "I was having a chat with Luke Shaw, and I mentioned Tony Adams, and he didn’t seem to know who I was talking about. I said: ‘Are you winding me up?’ And he said: ‘Who did he play for?’ I knew then

Nah guys.. this is getting insane now! 🤯 Just Liverpool FC posting my Matchday vlog on their official TikTok account.. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!? 😅😅😅 Always dreamt of playing for Liverpool, I suppose this is the equivalent for a content creator! 😂😂😂 I’ll take it..

be careful holding your friends opinion to a standard that’s higher than yours. that’s a slippery slope. even if you believe they have your best interest in mind. nothing beats developing your own sense of self-awareness & self-concept. they don’t know you like you know you.