Bongokuhle Hlongwane (born 20 June 2000) is a South African professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Minnesota United Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American So ...

and the

South African national team South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

Club career

Maritzburg United

Hlongwane grew up in Nxamalala studying at Umthoqotho High School ,Sweetwaters,

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

and played for Nxamalala Fast XI in the SAFA Regional League before joining

Maritzburg United Maritzburg United is a South African football club based in the city of Pietermaritzburg that currently plays in the Premier Soccer League. Honours *First Division Coastal Stream champions: 2007–08 *First Division Championship Play-offs: 2 ...

's academy. He made his debut for the club in a 1–0 defeat to Orlando Pirates in April 2019 and scored his first goal for the club a month later against Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila in the relegation play-offs. He was nominated for the South African Premier Division Young Player of the Season award for the 2020–21 campaign. In July 2021, he signed a new one-year contract with the club.

Minnesota United

On 5 January 2022, MLS club

announced the signing of Hlongwane to a three-year contract with a one-year club option.

International career

Hlongwane was first called up to the

in July 2019, and made his international debut on 28 July as a substitute in a 3–2 defeat to

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

. On 8 June 2021, he made his second appearance and full debut for South Africa against Uganda and scored his first international goal following a "fortunate deflection" in a 3–2 win. On 6 September 2021, he scored against Ghana in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

as South Africa won 1–0.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hlongwane goal.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hlongwane, Bongokuhle Living people 2000 births South African men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Maritzburg United F.C. players Minnesota United FC players South African Premier Division players Sportspeople from Pietermaritzburg South Africa men's international soccer players Major League Soccer players