While Siphiwe Tshabalala has not officially announced his retirement from the Beautiful Game, the former Bafana Bafana player has been busier off the field than he has on it. ‘Shabba’, who turns 40 in September, has been working as a Nedbank Cup ambassador, a role he has enjoyed for the last three seasons. Soccer Laduma’s Delmain Faver recently sat down with the Phiri-born man who spoke about his role as a Nedbank Cup, his highs and lows of featuring in the Cup of Dreams and more importantly, how he has broken the stigma of players who go broke shortly after calling time on their careers.
Delmain Faver: Shabba, thanks for chatting to us. Tell us about your role as a Nedbank Cup ambassador?
Siphiwe Tshabalala: I’ve been given the responsibility to drive this year’s campaign of the Nedbank Cup. This is my third year being an ambassador of the Nedbank Cup. So, it’s such an honour to be associated with Nedbank and also driving this tournament, having won it as a player. So, there’s so many great memories. My task is to make sure that I promote the tournament. This tournament is for the people, and I also find it befitting that Nedbank also added this new element into the tournament of having a physical hub which is called the Ya Rona House, whereby fans will get an opportunity to come to the house and watch the Nedbank games and also interact with the legends. I think it’s very important, like I said before, that the fans are the most important stakeholders in football. They have a voice, which we highly respect and we value and there are so many ways to thank them, for example, there’s also a share of R5 million among the fans.
