Former Mamelodi Sundowns captain, Hlompho Kekana spoke about how difficult it is to make it as a professional footballer.
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The story
The most decorated captain in PSL history Hlompho Kekana expressed some empathy for today's professional footballers, mentioning the sacrifices he had to make as an athlete.
In his near two-decade long professional career, the legendary defensive midfielder amassed 11 major honours, including eight league titles, seeing him win five as captain of Bafana Ba Style.
"When I look at the footballers today, I get so... sad for them because I know how it feels to be a professional footballer. It's not easy. You have to dedicate that, there's so many things that you have to sacrifice," noted Kekana in his chat with Morena Mothupi on Betway Smash Sports' "Football Faras" podcast.
"You are sacrificing for something you love, it doesn't feel like a sacrifice but when you sit around now, in my new world, I call it a new world, I tend to sit around and think, 'There's so many things I don't know about life,'" added "KK" pointing out how different life has been for him since hanging up his boots in 2022.
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Kekana spent a decade as Downs' midfield pillar of strength, leading Masandawana as captain during their historic CAF Champions League victory in 2016, followed by their CAF Super League triumph the next year.
Kekana also scored some of the most memorable screamers for both club and country, seeing him earn his first FIFA Puskas Award nomination for a unreal strike from his own half against Cameroon in the 2016 AFCON qualifiers.
His second Puskas nomination came in 2019, after winning the Absa Premiership Goal of the Season for his spectacular strike against Cape Town City.
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Re-live Kekana's stunner against Cameroon and some of his best goals for Sundowns below:
