Jacob Bobo Lekgetho (24 March 1974 – 9 September 2008) was a South African

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 played as a left back during the 1990s and 2000s

Career

Lekgetho was born in the Moletsane area of

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

and began playing professionally with

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

in 1995. He went on to make 155 appearances for the club before leaving for Russia's

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three o ...

in 2001. He helped the club win the league title in 2002, but returned to

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 ...

in 2004 following the death of his wife. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

25 times for the South African national team, making his international debut in a 1–0 win over

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in May 2000 and playing his last match for ''Bafana Bafana'' in a 3-0 World Cup Qualifying defeat to

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is t ...

on 20 June 2004. He was a member of the squad at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

in South Korea and Japan where he came on as a substitute in the 3–2 defeat to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Honors

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

: 2002, 2004 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premie ...

: 2003 *

Russian Cup (football) The Russian Cup () is a football competition held annually by the Football Union of Russia for professional and some amateur (only after a special permission and licensing by Russian Football Union) football clubs. The winner of the competition ...

: 2001

Death

Hoax

On 19 February 2007, Russian web-based news source Rusfootball and Russian edition of the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

website reported that Lekgetho had been killed in a car accident in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. Other media such as gazeta.ru,

Sport-Express ''Sport-Express'' (russian: Спорт-Экспресс) is a Russian daily sports newspaper founded by Vladimir Kuchmiy. Printed in 31 cities of Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the United States, it is the biggest-selling spor ...

, and Regnum picked up the story. On 20 February, Rusfootball published the refutation, confirming that the information was false.

Actual death

In September 2008, it was confirmed by various South African sources that Lekgetho had died in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

, aged 34, after a lengthy battle with an undisclosed illness. According to Sport-Express the illness was AIDS.http://news.sport-express.ru/online/ntext/25/nl258556.html (In Russian) He became one of Russia's own

References

External links

Jacob Lekgetho's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lekgetho, Jacob 1974 births 2008 deaths AIDS-related deaths in South Africa South African soccer players South Africa international soccer players South African expatriate soccer players Moroka Swallows F.C. players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players Russian Premier League players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 African Cup of Nations players Expatriate footballers in Russia South African expatriate sportspeople in Russia Sportspeople from Soweto Association football defenders Soccer players from Gauteng