Dean Phiri

Central Midfielder - Free State Stars
20 Sep 2026
Sunday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 5 Transfers Relations Events 31 Awards 2 Matches History

Marked for Dean Phiri

7 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match9 Sep 2026

The cup run ends for Free State Stars

1‑2 against Ajax Cape Town, 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

Both of them Mandla Mabunda's — 9.11

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Dean Phiri, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.15

A mark of 8.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Ramahlwe Kekana was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market14 Sep 2026

Morgan Zungu 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 Free State Stars can pretend not to have heard.

Match12 Sep 2026

Free State Stars get the job done against Platinum Stars

A 4‑3 win over Platinum Stars, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Match12 Sep 2026

Nobody could stop scoring

7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Free State Stars and Platinum Stars in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Market14 Sep 2026

Erick Ngcobo wants more than Free State Stars are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Transfer targets14 Sep 2026

Free State Stars rebuffed over Evertton Araújo

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flamengo have kept their man, and Free State Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

Back issues
6 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market7 Sep 2026

Kermit Mokoena asks to leave Free State Stars

“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.

Market7 Sep 2026

So close: Erick Ngcobo’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Gil Vicente moved on, Erick Ngcobo reports back to Free State Stars, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Boardroom7 Sep 2026

Window shuts: 4 in, 2 out at Free State Stars

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets7 Sep 2026

River Plate tell Free State Stars: Lautaro Rivero is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Words at Free State Stars training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Phiri 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.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Erick Ngcobo slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Erick Ngcobo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Erick Ngcobo named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Erick Ngcobo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

Market7 Sep 2026

Still no ink between Free State Stars and Shadrack Kobedi

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Free State Stars, another week without a signature from Shadrack Kobedi.

Market7 Sep 2026

Mandla Mabunda linked with a move away

The name of Mandla Mabunda keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Free State Stars say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

4 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market24 Aug 2026

The unthinkable, invoiced: Khama Erasmus sold

Zamalek arrived with $4.2M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.

Player ratings24 Aug 2026

Both of them Mandla Mabunda's — 8.66

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad24 Aug 2026

7 saves: Siyabonga Hlatshwayo was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

The terraces24 Aug 2026

A $4.2M sale, and a town that did not want it

Khama Erasmus has gone, the accounts have $4.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Market24 Aug 2026

Khama Mothiba asks to leave Free State Stars

“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.

Squad24 Aug 2026

Words exchanged at Free State Stars

Ramahlwe Kekana and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match22 Aug 2026

Free State Stars get the job done against Kaizer Chiefs

A 3‑2 win over Kaizer Chiefs, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Transfer targets24 Aug 2026

Boca Juniors tell Free State Stars: Leandro Brey is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match22 Aug 2026

Free State Stars settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Kaizer Chiefs spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

In brief

3 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market17 Aug 2026

Bidvest Wits come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Free State Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad17 Aug 2026

A falling-out at Free State Stars

Erick Ngcobo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match15 Aug 2026

A bad afternoon for Free State Stars against Orlando Pirates

0‑1 to Orlando Pirates, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout17 Aug 2026

Keagan Tau: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Luther Erasmus stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Luther Erasmus and Free State Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

Dean Phiri beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Luther Dala, 19, gets his chance

Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 19. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.

The dugout17 Aug 2026

The manager makes an example of Hlompho Dolly

“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.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Khama Erasmus wants to know why he earns less

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Free State Stars have no good answer.

In brief

1 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market3 Aug 2026

Free State Stars turn down Liberty Professionals for Williams Khune

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market3 Aug 2026

Erick Ngcobo wants more than Free State Stars are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Erick Ngcobo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Free State Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Words at Free State Stars training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Phiri 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.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Free State Stars ask about Bandile Shandu

A loan enquiry to Orlando Pirates: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Free State Stars ask about Sifiso Billiat

A loan enquiry to SuperSport United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout3 Aug 2026

Erick Ngcobo asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market3 Aug 2026

Khama Mothiba is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Free State Stars has been clear about where Khama Mothiba stands, which is more than many ever get.

Market3 Aug 2026

The Khama Erasmus question follows Free State Stars around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Khama Erasmus’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief