Cecil Sonwabile Lolo (11 March 1988 – 25 October 2015) was a South African professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who played as a defender and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Ajax Cape Town.

Career

Club career

Lolo made his professional debut for Ajax Cape Town as a substitute under Dutch coach

Foppe de Haan Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch football coach. He is known for his long association with Frisian club SC Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national football team during 2011 and then rejoined Heerenveen's ...

on 20 August 2010 in the

MTN 8 MTN 8 is the current branding for a South African soccer cup competition launched in 1972 for teams who finished in the top 8 positions of the league table of the country's preceding top-flight league (currently the DStv Premiership) season. T ...

quarter-finals against Mamelodi Sundowns. Lolo took one of the penalties as the Urban Warriors won the match 4–3 in a penalty shoot-out, after the sides were tied at 1-1 after extra-time. He made his official league debut on 17 September 2010 in a 2–0 win over

Platinum Stars Platinum Stars was a South African football club based in Phokeng near Rustenburg, North West Province that played in the Premier Soccer League. The club was nicknamed ''Dikwena'', the Tswana name for ''Crocodiles''. The team's best finish in ...

. He was promoted from the club's youth academy ranks after years of good showing for the club youth team, subsequent to a loan spell in the

National First Division The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club association football, football after the South African Premier Division. Both t ...

iKapa Sporting Ikapa Sporting is a football (soccer) club based in Cape Town, South Africa. History The club was formed in 2007 after purchasing the status of Fidentia Rangers. The home venue of the club was Erica Park until May 2010, followed by a season whe ...

. He scored his first goal on 15 February 2012 in a late comeback over

at the

Cape Town Stadium The Cape Town Stadium ( af, Kaapstad-stadion; xh, Inkundla yezemidlalo yaseKapa) is an association football (soccer) and rugby union stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, that was built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. During the planning stage, it wa ...

. Lolo scored the winner in the 95th minute after Matthew Booth and

Lebogang Manyama Lebogang Manyama (born 13 September 1990), nicknamed “Kaka” is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Cape Town City and the South Africa national soccer team. Early life Manyama was born in Tembisa but g ...

scored in the 88th and 92nd minute to win 3–2. Lolo played an instrumental role in Ajax's

triumph on 19 September 2015 having a man of the match performance in the final against

Kaizer Chiefs Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) are a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premier Soccer League. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Lords" or "Chie ...

winning 1–0. He played what would be his last ever match in a 1–1 draw against

on 26 September 2015. Lolo had made 114 appearances in total scoring two goals and receiving 12 yellow cards and never received a red card. Cecil Lolo was adored by fans, with a variety of popular songs adapted in his praise. One of them being rap hit CoCo (O.T. Genasis song) lyrics adapted from "I'm in love with the CoCo" to ''"I'm in love with the Lolo"''.

Personal life

Lolo's family originates from

Centane Centane, formerly Kentane or Kentani is a settlement in Amathole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated at approximately from Butterworth. History Centane was the site of the battle of Centane o ...

near

Butterworth Butterworth may refer to: Places * Butterworth (ancient township), a former township centred on Milnrow, in the then Parish of Rochdale, England, United Kingdom * Butterworth, Eastern Cape, now also known as Gcuwa, a town located in South Africa ...

in the Eastern Cape. He had three children from two different mothers.

Death

Lolo died in a car accident on 25 October 2015 in

Khayelitsha Khayelitsha () is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to be the largest

. He was buried in Chebe, Kentani in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

on 7 November 2015.

Legacy

His jersey number 21 has been officially retired by Ajax Cape Town, the club's CEO made the announcement during his tribute speech at the player's memorial services on Friday, 30 October 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lolo, Cecil 1988 births 2015 deaths South African soccer players Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Cape Town Spurs F.C. players Soccer players from Cape Town Ikapa Sporting F.C. players Road incident deaths in South Africa