AARON MOKOENA

The captain of South Africa’s national soccer team, Bafana Bafana, and well-known premier league player, Aaron Mokoena, needs little introduction. Known as “mbazo” (which means “the axe”) the twenty-eight-year-old has cut a successful sporting career and cleaved his way into the hearts of our sport-loving nation, not only as a sports hero, but also as someone who is determined to invest the future of South Africa.

As a youngster growing up in the Boipatong Township, south of Johannesburg, Mokoena began to hone his balls skills from the tender age of four on the grass-poor and dusty Township pitches.
A lover of ball sports, Mokoena made a choice in his early teens between the dream of a career in basketball or a career in soccer and decided to focus on soccer.

His good form when playing for Jomo Cosmos and Ajax Cape Town saw him selected in 1999 as the youngest player ever to represent South Africa in an international soccer match, at the age of 17- playing in the 2000 Sydney summer Olympics qualifiers.

Known as a versatile and athletic mid-fielder and centre-back Mokoena replaced Lucas Rabebe as captain of the South African national side in 2002 and has become a role model for soccer loving youngsters in South Africa.

Mokoena lead South Africa’s squad for the first time just before the 2002 World Cup and by the time he was 24 had made more than 25 international appearances wearing the green and gold jersey.

In June last year he overtook Shaun Bartlett to take the honour of being South Africa’s most capped soccer player.

Mokoena also played in Europe for Bayer Leverkusen, Ajax Amsterdam and Genk before moving the to the English Premier League in 2005 playing for Blackburn Rovers.

He recently signed a three-year contract with Portsmouth FC and will be playing for them from August this year.

Mokoena, together with other popular African soccer players, joined the Confederation of African Football and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund in a campaign to promote the right to quality education and raise money for children in Africa.

Inspired by the desire to improve opportunities for children in South Africa, as well as promote soccer in the country, Mokoena launched the Aaron Mokoena Foundation at the end of May this year as a charitable organisation in both South Africa and the UK.

Mokoena, who started from very humble beginnings, says he had dreamt of giving back something to the roots that helped him develop his skills as a soccer player ever since he turned professional.

Our Bafana Bafana captain believes that soccer coaching would not only improve the standard of the game in South Africa, but will also play a boarder role in society by bringing communities together and fostering better habits for South Africa’s youth.

Through the Foundation Mokoena hopes to improve the quality of soccer coaching, develop local soccer leagues and focus on developing young players through the provision of a robust coaching programme and integrating it with training in health and fitness, self esteem, confidence building and social etiquette.
While Mokoena believes he is fortunate to get to where he is today, he also readily acknowledges that it took a lot of hard work and a number of sacrifices.

Mokoena’s foundation, a way of giving back to his country, was launched on May 28th 2010 in the neighbourhood where Mokoena first learnt to kick a ball: Boipatong; which falls within the Sedibeng District Municipality. He sees it as a tangible legacy and the chance to make a real difference in people’s lives.

The launch tournament for kids aged between five and 16 in Boipatong, involved the local primary and high schools and had players like Lucas Radebe, Phil Masinga, Shaun Bartlett and Mark Fish lending support.

Mokoena plans to embark on a number of road shows both in South Africa and in the UK to raise awareness of the Foundation’s programmes and will be looking for support from local government as well as corporate sponsors.

Although he is very busy with premier league and aware of the heady responsibility of leading South Africa’s challenge for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, Mokoena believes that the timing for the launch of the Aaron Mokoena Foundation could not be better. The eyes of the world are on South Africa, and everyone is alive to the fact that soccer as a sport can shape lives, and that soccer heroes can play a big part as role models.

Mokoena is a shining example of how soccer can really change lives and he hopes to touch the lives of kids in South Africa and aid the development of soccer and soccer players in his home country.