Lucas Radebe

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Lucas Radebe
Personal information
Full name	Lucas Valeriu Radebe
Date of birth	December 4, 1969
Place of birth	Diepkloof, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa
Nickname	The Chief
Position	Defender
Youth clubs
	Kaizer Chiefs
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1990-94 1994-2005	Kaizer Chiefs Leeds United	?? (?) 200 (0)
National team**
1996–2002	South Africa	70 (2)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30/08/2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 30/08/2006.

Lucas Valeriu Radebe (Prounounced Ĥáďébè) (born December 4, 1969) is a former South African football player and national team captain.

Radebe was born in the Diepkloof section of Soweto, near Johannesburg, as one of eleven children. When he was 15 years old he was sent to the "bantustan" of Bophuthatswana by his parents in order to keep him away from the violence that was affecting Soweto during the apartheid era. In order to keep himself busy during his stay in Bophuthatswana, Radebe played football (as a goalkeeper).

He was later spotted and signed by the Kaizer Chiefs Football Club as a midfielder. In 1991 he was shot while walking down the street, though he was not critically wounded. The motive for the shooting never became clear, but Radebe himself believes that someone had been hired to shoot him in order to prevent him from moving to another club.

Radebe was first included in the South African national team in 1992. He made his international debut on 7 July 1992 against Cameroon, and his last match for South Africa was against England on 22 May 2003. He earned 70 "caps" for South Africa and scored 2 goals during his international career.

Partially motivated by the shooting incident, Lucas and another South African player, Philemon "Chippa" Masinga, moved to Leeds United in 1994; Radebe was sold by the Kaizer Chiefs for £250,000. In 1996, he was a member of the South African team that won the African Nations Cup.

Radebe became a star player for Leeds and was nicknamed "The Chief" by its fans partly due to his previous club and partly his absolute rule in defence . In recognition of his leadership and ability, Radebe was appointed captain of the team for the 1998/99 season. Radebe was also the captain of the South African national football team (nicknamed the Bafana Bafana) in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

As captain of Leeds, Radebe was very successful: in the 1998/1999 season, Leeds finished fourth in the FA Premier League qualifying for the UEFA Cup. During the 1999/2000 season, Leeds finished third in the Premier League and qualified for the Champions League, reaching the semi-finals.

In 2000, Radebe sustained knee and ankle injuries, which kept him out of the game for almost two years. After his recovery, he captained South Africa in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Radebe has also been an ambassador of FIFA for SOS Children's Villages; he also received the FIFA Fair Play Award in December 2000 for his contribution in ridding soccer of racism as well as for his work with children in South Africa.

He was voted 54th in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004.

At the end of the 2005 season, Radebe retired from professional football in a star-studded testimonial match at Elland Road involving players from all around the world, and Leeds United players past and present. He has been offered a role on the Leeds United coaching staff as a result. The Leeds rock group The Kaiser Chiefs take their name from his former club.

He is still a crowd favourite at Elland Road with the fans still singing his name even after his retirement showing how much he endeared himself to the fans during his playing career.

Lucas held a testimonial at Elland Road on May 2, 2005 attended by a crowd of over 37,886. The Final Score was Leeds United XI 3-7 International XI. Numerous International Stars and Leeds United Legends turned out for the game showing how well regarded Lucas is throughout the world of football. The players included Gary McAllister, Vinnie Jones, Jay-Jay Okocha, Mario Melchiot, John Carew, Bruce Grobbelaar, Olivier Dacourt, Nigel Martyn, Gunnar Halle, Neil Sullivan, David Batty, Gary Speed, Gordon Strachan, Gary Kelly, Clyde Wijnhard, Phil Masinga, David Weatherall, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Tony Yeboah, Paul Robinson, Chris Kamara, Matthew Kilgallon and Eirik Bakke^[1]. Lucas also held a retirement match in Durban, South Africa between a South African Invitation XI and Lucas Radebe All Stars at Kings Park Soccer Stadium The match finished South African Invitation XI 3-2 Lucas Radebe All Stars ^[2]. The proceeds from both of these matches were combined with other money raised and donated to charity as part of Lucas's big donation to charity in his final year as a player.

On 28 August 2006, Lucas announced that he was going back to Leeds after failing to secure job with the World Cup hosts to be involved in the set-up of Bafana Bafana even though he was promised. He said he was tired of waiting for unreliable people who had allegedly promised him a role in the national team set up as the South African Football Association prepare to host the next World Cup in 2010^[3].

[edit] Notes

	South Africa squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Vonk | 2 Mnguni | 3 Nyathi | 4 Jackson | 5 Fish | 6 Masinga | 7 Fortune | 8 Phiri | 9 Bartlett | 10 Moshoeu | 11 Mkhalele | 12 Augustine | 13 Buckley | 14 Sikhosana | 15 Khumalo | 16 Baloyi | 17 McCarthy | 18 Morula | 19 Radebe | 20 Mokoena | 21 Issa | 23 Gopane | Coach: Troussier

	South Africa squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Vonk | 2 Nzama | 3 Carnell | 4 A. Mokoena | 5 Lekgetho | 6 Sibaya | 7 Fortune | 8 Mngomeni | 9 Mukasi | 10 Mnguni | 11 Pule | 12 T. Mokoena | 13 Issa | 14 Nomvethe | 15 Zuma | 16 Arendse | 17 McCarthy | 18 Buckley | 19 Radebe | 20 Marlin | 21 Pienaar | 22 Molefe | 23 Koumantarakis | Coach: Sono