Mbulelo mabizela biography examples

South African footballer

Mbulelo Oldjohn Mabizela (born 16 September 1980) is a South African former professional footballer who played as a defender and sometimes as a midfielder.

Club career

Early professional career

Mabizela was born in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. He started his career using his mother's surname Oldjohn, but later preferred to be known as Mabizela, the surname of his father, Dumisani, who also played soccer for AmaZulu.^[1] As the youngest player to captain the South Africa national team, his surname Oldjohn was often referred as a nickname.^[2][3]

Mabizela began his senior club career with Maritzburg City in the National First Division,^[4] later joining Orlando Pirates.

Europe

In August 2003 Mabizela joined Tottenham Hotspur after inspiring Pirates to a 2–1 win over Tottenham when the London club made a short tour of South Africa before the start of the 2003–04 season.^[1&#