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 le ...

who is currently the manager of

Witbank Spurs Witbank Spurs are a South African football (soccer) club based in Witbank, Mpumalanga that competes in the Premier Soccer League's National First Division. History The club was formed in 1962 as Eastern Rangers Football Club. In 1975, the club wa ...

. He represented South Africa 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 The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

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 in 2005 as a little-known holding midfielder from lower league side Bloemfontein Young Tigers. 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 Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

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 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. I ...

season, Dikgacoi was allowed to drop down a division and join Crystal Palace 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 Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

after refusing a new deal with Crystal Palace. He made his debut in a 1–0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers, 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, 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, where he started on the opening day against

. 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 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 The COSAFA Cup or COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been ...

match against Mauritius. He scored his first two goals on 7 June 2008, in a 2010 World Cup qualifier against

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

, 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 The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Joh ...

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 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)