Senzo Meyiwa

Orlando Pirates

Beginnings (2005–2012)

Meyiwa was a goalkeeper of Orlando Pirates from 2005 as the backup goalkeeper to Francis Chansa until 2008. The arrival of new coach Milutin Sredojević, the Pirates gave Meyiwa his debut against AmaZulu F.C. on 8 November 2006, in a match which the Pirates won 2-1. In 2008, after the departure of Francis Chansa to Engen Santos, Pirates brought Moeneeb Josephs from Wits University in 2008 and Meyiwa again had to be the backup goalkeeper.

Becoming a starter (2012–2014)

In the 2012 season, interim coach Augusto Palacios gave Meyiwa some games, and the new coach of Pirates Roger De Sa also gave Meyiwa games due to Josephs' shoulder injury in the 2012 season. Josephs left Pirates in 2013 to Bidvest Wits, after seeing that he was no longer the first-choice goalkeeper. Pirates brought Ghanaian goalkeeper Fatau Dauda in 2013 season, but Meyiwa continued to start and Dauda played only 3 games for Pirates before leaving to Chippa United in 2014. Meyiwa is known for saving penalties in the CAF Champions League 2013 against TP Mazembe, when he saved two penalties which were both taken by Tresor Mputu. Though Pirates lost 1-0 in that match, they won on an aggregate of 3–2. Meyiwa guided Pirates to the final against Al Ahly SC, which Pirates lost 3-1 on aggregate.

Captaincy (2014)

Meyiwa was made captain of Orlando Pirates by coach Vladimir Vermezovic in his last four games for Pirates before his death…

Meyiwa made his debut for South Africa on 2 June 2013 in a 2–0 away victory against Lesotho as a substitute for the whole second half to Wayne Sandilands. He was included in the South African squad led by manager Gordon Igesund for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, but made no appearances. For the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, he played four times, with his last match being a 0–0 draw against Congo on 15 October 2014 at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. He was given a captain's armband in all of his last four games that which he played in 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification and he joined Brian Baloyi and Moeneeb Josephs by being the only goalkeepers who captained Bafana in four occasions each without conceding a goal during their captaincy, with two draws and two wins each of them. He earned a total of seven international caps with six clean sheets.