The Free State Stars Chronicle
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Morgan Manyama was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 61. 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
No mercy from Free State Stars
Jomo Cosmos will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Free State Stars were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Bradley Jali scores twice — 9.17
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dean Grobler signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dean Grobler commits to Free State Stars for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Free State Stars
Morgan Manyama 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Free State Stars
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Free State Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Itumeleng Tau 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Bradley Furman steps up from the Free State Stars academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bradley Furman has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Free State Stars promote Dean Tau from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dean Tau has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
- Market Free State Stars promote Ramahlwe Ngcobo from within
- Market One of our own: Percy Mphela joins the Free State Stars first team
- The dugout Morgan Modiba gets it from the manager