Steve "Chippa" Lekoelea (born 5 February 1979 in

Sebokeng Sebokeng () locally called Zweni by residents, is a middle-class township in the Emfuleni Local Municipality in southern Gauteng, South Africa near the industrial cities of Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging. Other neighboring townships include Evaton ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

''as Steve Motsiri'') is a South African

football (soccer) 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 ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played for

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 ...

clubs Moroka Swallows,

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

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 ...

Career

He was 15 years, 257 days old when he debuted for

Moroka Swallows Moroka Swallows Football Club (often known as simply Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto in the city of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two ...

in 1994, and became the league's youngest scorer, aged 16 years, 7 days, when he scored against

Umtata Bush Bucks Bush Bucks is a South African association football club. The club was founded in 1957 and originally based in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. In 2001, the team moved to East London. It was nicknamed ''Imbabala (The Bucks)''. History The club was fo ...

on 12 February 1995. Lekoelea was playing under the name of Steve Motsiri at the time. Lekoelea first appeared for the senior

South Africa national football team The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international Association football, soccer and it is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. The team's nickname is Baf ...

as a teen. *Previous clubs:

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 ...

Mbabane Highlanders Mbabane Highlanders is a Swati soccer club based in Mbabane. They have won more national titles than any other club, although their most recent league title was in 2001. Achievements * Swazi Premier League: 13 :: 1974, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1984, 19 ...

*Bafana Bafana caps won: 10

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lekoelea, Steve 1979 births Living people People from Sebokeng South African Sotho people South African soccer players South Africa international soccer players Association football midfielders Moroka Swallows F.C. players Orlando Pirates F.C. players Platinum Stars F.C. players Maritzburg United F.C. players Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of South Africa 2000 African Cup of Nations players Sportspeople from Gauteng