Marked for Themba Manyama
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thabo Nkwana, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Gustavo Vargas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Nobody could get near Teboho Tau
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer from Levski for Itumeleng Tau was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match30 Jan 2027
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ajax Cape Town are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ajax Cape Town they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Jomo Cosmos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Thabo Nkwana gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Gustavo Vargas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
Teboho Phiri hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ajax Cape Town can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Jan 2027
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ajax Cape Town are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Luther Billiat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Donay Jansen
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Vargas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nicolás Carreño dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Bidvest Wits came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match16 Jan 2027
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Bloemfontein Celtic the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ajax Cape Town will enjoy reviewing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Itumeleng Tau is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.33 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Teboho Tau runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 8.77 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match16 Jan 2027
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Alex Martínez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Free State Stars, and it could have been more.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Thamsanqa Mokoena at 18 — 7.85
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thamsanqa Mokoena did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Luther Billiat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Keagan Manyama has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 8.36 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Thabo Nkwana
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Thulani Kekana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market28 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Evidence Billiat’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Teboho Tau runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nicolás Carreño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Teboho Tau runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Luther Billiat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
13 goals and a season average of 7.29. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Thamsanqa Mokoena has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Themba Manyama. 2‑0 against Chippa United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Thabo Nkwana
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad30 Nov 2026
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market30 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Evidence Billiat’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Teboho Tau
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Kekana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thato Sibiya is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Luther Billiat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Itumeleng Tau. 3‑1 against Jomo Cosmos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Teboho Tau at his very best
Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ajax Cape Town.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Itumeleng Tau is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.21 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Thulani Kekana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ajax Cape Town are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad12 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Ajax Cape Town are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ajax Cape Town told Thato Sibiya something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Teboho Tau runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Luther Billiat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Thulani Kekana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nicolás Carreño dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Sep 2026
3‑0 against Free State Stars, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A debut Morgan Vilakazi will not forget — 7.37
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.37 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nicolás Carreño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.63 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.41 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ronwen Mphela
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Teboho Tau runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Itumeleng Tau takes the afternoon — 9.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Itumeleng Tau provided it, and the 9.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ajax Cape Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Itumeleng Tau’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ajax Cape Town.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.48 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Thulani Kekana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Thato Sibiya named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Thato Sibiya is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Ajax Cape Town have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Dean Mahlangu hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ajax Cape Town can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Khama Ngcobo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Platinum Stars came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.