Former Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns winger Thuso Phala admitted earlier this week that his birth date was falsified throughout his football career.
Phala made the explosive admission while speaking on the Kota and Chill podcast.
“Do you want to know my age or the football age? After all, there is age that you leave at home and then there is football age, which you use on the field,” Phala was heard saying in the posdcast.
“My football age is what you see right now, and there is something I left at home. Thuso Phala who played football is this age that you know.
Officially, Phala, who retired in 2020 with Black Leopards, is meant to be 37 years old.
“Will they now take away the medals and trophies that I have won if they find out my real age, and say that I am a defaulter? If that is a crime, let’s leave it at that.
“How can you retire at the age of 34? This thing is only a problem in development ranks, it is not a problem at the higher (paying) level.”
In an illiustrious career spanning 14 years, Phala won numerous medals while playing for the likes of Chiefs, Sundowns and SuperSport United. He was 22 times at international level, and played for Bafana Bafana at the 2013 and 2015 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Phala is not the first player in South Africa to play under a falsified birth date. Famously, the late Senzo Meyiwa was discovered to have been two years older than what the official records stated.
IOL Sport