May Mahlangu (born 1 May 1989) is a South African professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder.

Club career

Early career

Mahlangu joined the Stars of Africa Academy at age 15 and played for their team Alexandra United FC.

Helsingborgs IF

Bo Nilsson was the manager of

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

club Helsingborgs IF in 2008 and through his connections with the academy he brought over Mahlangu to Sweden. Nilsson set it up so that Mahlangu would train with both Helsingborg and fourth tier club IFK Hässleholm each day, and that he would initially play league games for Hässleholm. After impressing in the Swedish lower leagues, Helsingborg decided to permanently make him a part of their squad in the summer of 2009. In 2011 the club won the Swedish league and Mahlangu was given the

player of the year award Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

IFK Göteborg

On 4 March 2014 Mahlangu joined Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg on a one-year contract.

Konyaspor

May Mahlangu signed with Konyaspor in January 2015 as a free transfer. On 28 February 2015, Mahlangu scored his first league goal against Fenerbahçe.

Ludogorets Razgrad

Mahlangu signed a contract with Ludogorets Razgrad in August 2018, but saw limited action for the team.

Ordabasy

In 2019 he joined Ordabasy on loan before signing permanently with the Kazakh side in 2020.

International career

In January 2012, Mahlangu made his debut for the South Africa national team in a friendly 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 ...

. He was also included in South Africa's squad for the

2013 Africa 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 ...

. In November 2014, Mahlangu was banned from selection for the ''Bafana Bafana'' after failing to turn up for their

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

qualifiers against

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

and Nigeria, citing fatigue.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Helsingborgs IF *

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

* Svenska Cupen:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

* Svenska Supercupen:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Dinamo Bucharest * Cupa Ligii: 2016–17 Individual * Allsvenskan Player of the Year:

References

External links

Profile at HelsingborgsIF.se
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archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahlangu, May 1989 births Living people People from Govan Mbeki Local Municipality South African men's soccer players South Africa men's international soccer players South African expatriate men's soccer players South African expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Men's association football midfielders Helsingborgs IF players IFK Hässleholm players IFK Göteborg players Konyaspor footballers Sint-Truidense V.V. players FC Dinamo București players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad II players FC Ordabasy players Allsvenskan players Division 2 (Swedish football) players Süper Lig players Belgian Pro League players Liga I players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Kazakhstan Premier League players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players