Eric "Tower" Mathoho (born 1 May 1990 in

Thohoyandou Thohoyandou ( ve, Ṱhohoyanḓou) is a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It is the administrative centre of Vhembe District Municipality and Thulamela Local Municipality. It is also known for being the former capital of the bantustan ...

) is a South African

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He currently plays for

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 ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Early life

Mathoho was born in Tshiombo near

. He played soccer from a young age. He made balls out of onion bags and he played games in maize fields during harvest time and would tear off his toe nails when he kicked the ground and bruise his feet .

Club career

Bloemfontein Celtic

Mathoho joined Bloemfontein Celtic from

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

-based Dolphins FC after going for trials with two other players in July 2009 under Owen da Gama. Mathoho made his debut on 3 February 2010 in a 0–0 draw against

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football l ...

under

Clinton Larsen Clinton Larsen (born 17 February 1971 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal) is a South African former football player and manager who was last manager of Polokwane City in the South African Premier Division The South African Premier Division, official ...

and was named Man of the Match. He scored his first goal on 27 February 2011 in a 5–0 win over

Supersport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the Dstv Premiership. United is known as ''Matsats ...

. He put on great performances in his first six months as a professional and was linked to

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

and went for trials at

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

but the €1 million deal never materialised. The deal collapsed because of financial laws in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

which insisted foreign players must get paid a significant amount – a law designed to control the quality of players brought into the country. Mathoho was set to be a replacement for

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

who was leaving having been linked with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

but the deal collapsed.

Kaizer Chiefs

Mathoho joined Chiefs only in June 2012 after being linked with them since January and also

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

and

and was unveiled on 1 July 2012. Mathoho made his debut on 5 August 2012 in a 4–1 loss to

where Chiefs were 4–0 down by the 36th minute. On 13 September 2012, Mathoho suffered a shoulder dislocation against

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 ...

. On 3 April 2013, he scored his first goal in Chiefs colours against

in a 1–1 draw. He won the 2012/13 league title and the

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of givi ...

in his first season. Mathoho made his

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

debut on 1 March 2014 and scored against Liga Muculmana in a 4–0 win at

Moses Mabhida Stadium The Moses Mabhida Stadium is a football stadium in Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, named after Moses Mabhida, a former General Secretary of the South African Communist Party. It is a multi-use stadium. The stadium became a ...

on what was his 24th birthday. At the beginning of the 2014–15 season, Mathoho was part of a team that went 19 games without losing in the process, winning the MTN8 without conceding a goal and later won the league.

International career

He made his debut for South Africa on 14 May 2011 versus

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

in an international friendly. Mathoho played every minute of

's successful AFCON qualifying campaign in 2014 under

Ephraim Mashaba Ephraim Mashaba (born 6 August 1950) is a South African former soccer player and manager. Career Mashaba managed Vaal Reef Stars until the club was relegated from the South African top-tier. He managed the South Africa national team, but w ...

to help them qualify for the first time since 2008.

Style of play

Mathoho is a defender that also has the ability to launch attacks and go forward to add numbers and he is a threat in the air and at set-pieces.

International career

International goals

:''Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first.''

Honours

;

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

– 2013 *

– 2013 * Carling Black Label Cup – 2013 *

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 ...

– 2014 * Primier soccer league - 2015

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathoho, Eric 1990 births Living people People from Thulamela Local Municipality South African Venda people South African soccer players Bloemfontein Celtic F.C. players Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players Association football defenders South Africa international soccer players 2011 African U-23 Championship players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of South Africa Sportspeople from Limpopo