Kaizer Chiefs have confirmed that veteran defender Eric ‘Tower’ Mathoho has left the club after spending 11 years at the Soweto giants.
The 33-year-old parted ways with the club after Amakhosi reportedly opted against renewing his contract.
Mathoho joined the Soweto giants back in July 2012 after spending three seasons at now-defunct Bloemfontein Celtic.
Tower as he is affectionately known has featured 259 times for Amakhosi and has scored 26 goals and assisted just one goal during his time at the club.
In his 11 years at the club, Mathoho has won five trophies, including two league titles, one Nedbank Cup, one Carling Black Label Cup and the MTN8 trophy.
Mathoho played his final game for Chiefs in their 2-1 victory over SuperSport United at the FNB on Saturday, 17 September 2022.
“Who can forget the dramatic moment in July 2012 when we unveiled our new players, including Morgan Gould, Kgotso Moleko and Siboniso Gaxa, but we were only able to unveil a mannequin wearing jersey #3, as we were trying hard to bring the player to Naturena?,” says Kaizer Chiefs Marketing Director, Jessica Motaung.
“We knew he was our player but needed to finalise some paper work, as there was interest from other teams.”
Meanwhile, Chiefs Chairman, Dr Kaizer Motaung said: “We are happy that the man from Tshiombo in Limpopo realised his dream of donning the Gold & Black jersey of the team he supported from childhood. It’s not everyone who realises this dream.
“Erick now joins our long list of Kaizer Chiefs legends who served the Club and its supporters with aplomb over the last 53 years and he will always be welcomed at the Kaizer Chiefs Village.”
During his career, Mathoho was also a regular in the Bafana Bafana set up, having represented the national team 34 times.
Chiefs Sporting Director Kaizer Motaung Jr said: “Tower’s contribution is well documented and we will miss him in the team. I got to play in the same team with him for two seasons and he has represented his home village and Kaizer Chiefs very well. His family and community can only be proud of him.”
“We wish ‘Tower’ well in the future. Vha tshimbile zwavhudi vhoMathoho.”
