Lebogang Mothiba (born 28 January 1996) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Strasbourg and the South Africa national team. He made his professional debut in 2017 for Ligue 2 side

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

, whilst on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

from

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, before returning to his parent club the following year. There, he scored six goals in 17 appearances before transferring to fellow Ligue 1 side Strasbourg in August 2018 with whom he won the Coupe de la Ligue in his debut season. Having previously represented South Africa at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Mothiba broke into the senior side in 2018 after which he became the first player to score in three consecutive matches for the nation from debut.

Club career

Early career

Mothiba spent his formative years on the books of local side

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 ...

. He never progressed to the club's first team, however, and later joined Diambars academy in South Africa from whence he was signed by French side,

in 2014, shortly after his nineteenth birthday.

Lille

In July 2014, Mothiba signed for Ligue 1 side

on a three-year contract where he joined the club's under-19 side. He spent the next two seasons with the club's youth and reserve sides before signing his first professional contract with the club, penning a three-year deal. Midway through the 2016–17 campaign he joined Ligue 2 side

on a two-year

deal. He scored two goals in nine appearances for the campaign which prompted Valenciennes to extend his loan for a further season. Mothiba added a further eight goals in 20 appearances for the club before his form, coupled with Lille's domestic struggles, saw his parent club recall him mid-way through his second loan stint. With Lille battling against the prospect of relegation, Mothiba returned to score five goals in 14 appearances, including a brace against

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

on the final day of the season, to ensure that the club avoided the drop to Ligue 2. Despite his form in the season prior, however, Mothiba was forced to leave Lille during the early stages of the 2018–19 campaign after the club ran into financial difficulties.

Strasbourg

On 31 August 2018, the last day of the 2018 summer transfer window, and with Lille facing financial difficulties, Mothiba was sold to league rivals Starsbourg for a reported transfer fee of €4 million. The deal also involved a buyback option and a 50% sell-on clause for Lille. He scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance when he netted in the third minute of

injury time 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 ...

to earn his side a point against Montpellier. On 30 March, he started in Strasbourg's penalty shoot-out win over

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 6,895 as of 2017, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Gui ...

to help the club lift the Coupe de la Ligue title. On 9 November 2019, on the occasion of his 50th appearance for Strasbourg, Mothiba ended a five-month goal drought with a brace in the club's 4–1 league win over

Nîmes Olympique Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was founded on 10 April 1937 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second level of French football. Until November 2022, ...

. On 27 January 2022, Mothiba joined Troyes on loan until the end of the season.

International career

Mothiba 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 the football competition of the 2016 Summer Olympics. In March 2018, he scored on his full debut during a Four Nations Tournament draw with

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. In October, during a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

, he became the first player to score in three consecutive matches for South Africa from debut. His goal also contributed towards the nation recording its largest ever victory with the match ending 6–0 in favour of South Africa. Fans sing, "Mothiba, the South African Oaf" from the terraces, in response to Mo Salah being known as "The Egyptian King" by Egypt fans.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Strasbourg * Coupe de la Ligue: 2018–19 South Africa *Four Nations Tournament:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mothiba, Lebo 1996 births Living people Soccer players from Johannesburg Association football forwards South African soccer players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Olympic soccer players of South Africa Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Valenciennes FC players Lille OSC players RC Strasbourg Alsace players ES Troyes AC players South African expatriate soccer players Expatriate footballers in France South African expatriate sportspeople in France South Africa international soccer players