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Tapelo Xoki

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tapelo Xoki
Personal information
Birth name Thapelo Nyongo[citation needed]
Date of birth (1995-04-10) 10 April 1995 (age 31)
Place of birth Khayelitsha, South Africa
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position Defender
Team information
Current team
 Orlando Pirates
Number 27
Youth career
–2012 Cape Town Liverpool
2012–2014 Old Mutual Academy
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2022 AmaZulu 138 (9)
2022– Orlando Pirates 59 (3)
International career‡
2024 South Africa 1 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 3 January 2026
‡ National team caps and goals as of 21 March 2024

Thapelo[clarification needed] Xoki (born Thapelo Nyongo[citation needed]; 10 April 1995) is a South African footballer who plays as a defender for South African Premiership side Orlando Pirates. He has been capped once by the South Africa national team.[1]

Early and personal life

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He was born on 10 April 1995[2] in Khayelitsha in the city of Cape Town.[3] He attended Thembelihle Senior Secondary School.[4]

He originally played football using the surname of his mother, Nyongo. He later began using the surname of his father, Xoki, after his father paid damages to his mother.[5]

His first name has been variously spelled Tapelo or Thapelo. Both club teams he has played for professionally and the Confederation of African Football have had his first name written as Tapelo,[2][6][7] however the South African Football Association has frequently written his first name as Thapelo.[8][9]

Club career

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He started playing for Cape Town Liverpool before joining the Old Mutual Academy in Cape Town in 2012. He joined AmaZulu in 2014,[3] signing his first professional contract lasting until summer 2017.[4] He was the captain of AmaZulu.[6]

On June 13, 2022, Xoki completed a transfer to the Orlando Pirates.[10] He reached an agreement with the club to extend his contract by two years in April 2025.[11][12] He was named vice-captain ahead of Mbekezeli Mbokazi and behind captain Nkosinathi Sibisi for the 2025–26 season.[13][7]

On 31 August 2025, after the Orlando Pirates won against Chippa United in Gqeberha, the team was on a bus heading back from the game and stopped at the scene of a traffic collision, where several people including Xoki, head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou, goalkeeping coach Tyrone Damons, and other staff stepped off the bus to assist the victims.[14] Soon after, a Nissan NP200 collided with the stationary vehicles, striking five people, causing Damons, Ouaddou, and Xoki to be hospitalised.[15][16] The accident left Xoki with anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament tears.[17]

Ouaddou dedicated the success of the Orlando Pirates in the 2025 MTN 8 tournament to Xoki and the injured club staff.[18] Ouaddou later said he did not know if there would be a chance Xoki would make an appearance before the end of the 2025–26 season.[19] Xoki has praised the Orlando Pirates medical team for the work they have done toward his rehabilitation[20] and has said it is going well.[21]

International career

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Xoki was initially selected by Hugo Broos for the 44-man provisional squad for the South Africa national team for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Benin and Rwanda in November 2023.[22] He was not included in the official announcement of the final 23-man squad for the qualifiers by the South African Football Association,[23][24] but replaced Grant Kekana after he had withdrawn from the squad due to an injury[8] and was an unused substitute on the bench in both games.[25] Xoki was included in the 50-man provisional list for the South Africa squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations on 14 December 2023.[9] He was later announced as one of the three reserve players put on standby for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations,[26] but he did not make an appearance in the tournament. He made his debut for South Africa on 21 March 2024 in a friendly against Andorra which ended in a 1–1 draw.[27]

Honours

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Orlando Pirates

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References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Tapelo Xoki at Soccerway. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 "South Africa" (PDF). Confederation of African Football. 2023.
  3. 1 2 "SLTV – 'You Have To Have A Strong Mentality'". Soccer Laduma. 27 June 2020. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  4. 1 2 Busakwe, Lonwabo (6 September 2014). "I want to play in Belgium, says Cape's Nyongo". PressReader. Weekend Argus. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "Tapelo Xoki Interview: 5 Things You Don't Know about the AmaZulu captain". 23 June 2020 – via YouTube. The surname change came about last season. I used to use my mother's surname which is Nyongo and now I'm using my father's surname, Xoki. I had to change to my father's surname as my father followed our traditional ways which is to go and pay damages and ask my mother's side of the family [for] the permission [for me] to use his surname. It is something that I have always knew it's going to come up and luckily for me it came up before I got to have my next phase of life which is marriage and having kids because in terms of culture it is very important for us. I had to change it because once I have kids and I have a wife I can't use my mother's surname in my father's household because culturally I do my things on my father's side so I can't take a surname of another household and put it in my father's household so I had to change to Xoki, but my father had to do the right things as well, go and pay damages and go and talk to my mother's side of the family about fixing things, which he did. Hence, I changed to Xoki.
  6. 1 2 "Tapelo Xoki". AmaZulu F.C. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Tapelo Xoki". Orlando Pirates F.C. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
  8. 1 2 "Injury woes will not affect Bafana Bafana's plans". South African Football Association. 15 November 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Broos announces preliminary Bafana squad for AFCON". South African Football Association. 14 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  10. ↑ "Orlando Pirates sign two new defensive stars". The Herald. 13 June 2022.
  11. ↑ Nanabhay, Zaahid (21 April 2025). "Orlando Pirates make breakthrough in key contract negotiations". The South African.
  12. ↑ Gwegwe, Siseko (27 April 2025). "Orlando Pirates captain is staying". The South African.
  13. ↑ Biyela, Lunga (30 July 2025). "Orlando Pirates hand captaincy to Nkosinathi Sibisi, teenage star Mbekezeli Mbokazi named vice-captain". Independent Online. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  14. ↑ Kohler, Lorenz (4 May 2026). "The Long Road Back: Xoki's Journey of Gratitude, Growth, and Grit". iDiski Times.
  15. ↑ "South Africa-based coach Ouaddou injured in car accident". The Straits Times. 2 September 2025.
  16. ↑ Solms, Leonard (2 September 2025). "Orlando Pirates staff, including Abdesalam Ouaddou and defender Tapelo Xoki, hurt in serious traffic incident". ESPN.
  17. ↑ "A point to prove for Pirates defender". Kick Off. 15 July 2026.
  18. ↑ "Ouaddou dedicates MTN8 success to Xoki & Bucs coaches". Kick Off. 13 September 2025.
  19. ↑ Leballo, Khothatso (8 April 2026). "Abdeslam Ouaddou issues injury update on Sihle Nduli and Tapelo Xoki as Orlando Pirates' depth gets tested in key stage of the season, 'I cannot tell if maybe we have a chance to...'". Goal.
  20. ↑ Leshoro, Benjamin (29 May 2026). "Thapelo Xoki - We blocked outside noise to win the title". SABC Sport.
  21. ↑ Ngwenya, Mzwakhe (28 March 2026). "Orlando Pirates defender Thapelo Xoki on his potentially end of the season: My rehab is going well and I am taking it one day at the time". Dailysports.
  22. ↑ Munyai, Ofhani (31 October 2023). "Broos Announces Bafana Preliminary Squad for World Cup Qualifiers". FARPost.
  23. ↑ "Broos names final Bafana squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Benin, Rwanda". South African Football Association. 10 November 2023.
  24. ↑ Rabothe, Tshepho (10 November 2023). "Broos Names Final Bafana Squad for World Cup Qualifiers". FARPost.
  25. ↑ "Xoki, Mbule, Maswanganyi, Lepasa to earn Pirates World Cup money". Kick Off. 19 June 2026.
  26. ↑ Lambley, Garrin (28 December 2023). "AFCON 2023: Bafana Bafana squad CLUB breakdown". The South African. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  27. ↑ "Andorra v South Africa game report". ESPN. 21 March 2024.
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