Kagisho Evidence Dikgacoi (born 24 November 1984) is a South African retired 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 ...

who is currently the manager of Witbank Spurs. He represented

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

at international level. He made his international debut in 2007, and since then has earned 54 caps, scoring twice. He played at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2008 and 2013, and at the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Club career

Early career

Dikgacoi began his career at local club Cardiff Spurs, before moving to

Golden Arrows Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. are a South African soccer club based in Durban that plays in the Premier Soccer League. History It was founded in 1943 in the streets of Lamontville, a township in Durban. The club played in the defunct Natio ...

in 2005 as a little-known holding midfielder from lower league side

Bloemfontein Young Tigers Bloemfontein Young Tigers are a South African football (soccer) club based in Bloemfontein that participates in the Vodacom League The ABC Motsepe League, previously known as the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as th ...

. At Arrows, he developed into one of the country's best players in his position and was subsequently rewarded with the captain's armband.

Fulham

On 4 August 2009, Dikgacoi announced that he had reached an agreement with Fulham after a successful trial at the club. The deal was only finalised on 26 August after a work permit was granted. Dikgacoi had trained with his former club Golden Arrows while the work permit process took place in order to maintain fitness. He made his debut on 4 October, but was sent off in the 41st minute for slapping

Scott Parker Scott Matthew Parker (born 13 October 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of Club Brugge in Belgium. Parker began his career at Charlton Athletic, and ...

Crystal Palace

After appearing only once for Fulham under

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

season, Dikgacoi was allowed to drop down a division and join

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in February on a loan deal until the end of the season. He scored his first goal for Crystal Palace against Cardiff on 8 March 2011, before moving permanently to the Eagles on 4 July 2011 for a fee of £600,000.

Cardiff City

On 12 June 2014, Dikgacoi signed a three-year deal with Cardiff City after refusing a new deal with Crystal Palace. He made his debut in a 1–0 loss to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, coming on for

Aron Gunnarsson Aron Einar Malmquist Gunnarsson (born 22 April 1989) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays for Al-Arabi and captains the Icelandic national team. He can play either as a defensive midfielder or a central midfielder. He began his c ...

on 23 August. His full debut came three days later in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, where Cardiff beat

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

. Following a series of niggling of injuries, Dikgacoi was ruled out for four months with a knee injury in November. Dikgacoi did not return until the following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

, where he started on the opening day against Fulham. He made 25 appearances during the season as Cardiff missed out on the play-offs, before his contract was terminated by mutual consent on 26 August.

Golden Arrows

In October 2016, Dikgacoi returned to former club

Lamontville Golden Arrows Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. are a South African soccer club based in Durban that plays in the Premier Soccer League. History It was founded in 1943 in the streets of Lamontville, a township in Durban. The club played in the defunct Natio ...

after training with the team. He signed a short-term deal. As a result of injuries and weight issues, he played in just ten matches and failed to complete a match. The Golden Arrows announced in June 2017 that he would not return for the following season. Dikgacoi announced his retirement from playing in July 2018.

International career

Dikgacoi made his debut for the South Africa national team on 27 May 2007, in a COSAFA Cup match against

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

. He scored his first two goals on 7 June 2008, in a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Equatorial Guinea, which ended 4–1. He was part of Bafana Bafana's

2008 African Nations Cup The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confede ...

squad and was also a participant at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup,

and

2013 African Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

, held in his home country.

Post-playing career

Following his retirement from playing football Dikgacoi entered the business arena alongside his business partner Tieho Benny Mokhalinyane. In 2018, his apparel company International Sports Apparel Design Institute concluded a deal with the

Football Association of Malawi The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) is the governing body controlling the sport of football in the central African country of Malawi. The Association is affiliated to the Confederation of African Football, FIFA and COSAFA. History The Foot ...

for the supply of kits, tracksuits, and golf shirts.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

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

References

External links

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Kagisho Dikgacoi palace.footballblog ProfileKagisho Dikgacoi
at Footballdatabase {{DEFAULTSORT:Dikgacoi, Kagisho 1984 births Living people People from Masilonyana Local Municipality South African soccer players Association football midfielders South Africa international soccer players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players Bloemfontein Young Tigers players Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. players South African expatriate soccer players Expatriate footballers in England Premier League players Crystal Palace F.C. players Fulham F.C. players English Football League players Cardiff City F.C. players South African expatriate sportspeople in England 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Soccer players from the Free State (province)