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Ace Ntsoelengoe
Personal information
Full name	Patrick Pule Zolile Ntsoelengoe
Date of birth	26 February 1952
Place of birth	Randfontein, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Date of death	8 May 2006 (aged 54)
Place of death	Lenasia, Gauteng, South Africa
Position(s)	Striker, Midfielder
Youth career
	Powerlines
1968	Mohlakeng Home Stars
1969–1970	Kaizer XI
Senior career*
Years	Team
1971–1988	Kaizer Chiefs
1973	Miami Toros
1975	Denver Dynamos
1976–1981	Minnesota Kicks
1979–1980	Minnesota Kicks (indoor)
1982–1984	Toronto Blizzard
1986–1988	Toronto Blizzard
Total
International career
1977	South Africa
Managerial career
1985	Ace's Mates
1997	South Africa U-23
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Patrick Pule "Ace" Ntsoelengoe OIS (26 February 1952^[1] – 8 May 2006) was a South African soccer player who is widely considered as one of the greatest the country has ever produced.^[2]

Early life

Ntsoelengoe was born to Daniel Ndimande and Margaret Ntsoelengoe. Ntsoelengoe did not grow up with his parents, as they were not yet married when he was born. The Ntsoelengoe surname comes from his grandmother, who raised him until his parents got married. His surname remained unchanged after this.

Ntsoelengoe was a close friend to Mbongeni Ngema. Before starting his soccer career, he played tennis and used to practice at a tennis court next to his home. He also played the organ and the guitar, earning the nickname "Quincy Jones". Ntsoelengoe grew up playing soccer with other boys in the street. He later joined an amateur coloured team, Powerlines and when he moved to Mohlakeng he joined Mohlakeng Home Stars and started to gain popularity. In 1969, when Kaizer XI played Randfontein XI he impressed Kaizer XI, Orlando Pirates and Moroka Swallows. He joined Kaizer XI at the age of 17.^[3] Ntsoelengoe's father, Daniel (born 1934), played semi-professional football with Randfontein Young Zebras. He inspired the affectionate nickname 'Ace'.^[4]

Playing career

Ntsoelengoe spent almost his entire career with Kaizer Chiefs in his home country. During the local offseason he usually played in the United States and Canada.

In total he played 11 seasons in the North American Soccer League, beginning in 1973 with the Miami Toros. He is also a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.^[5]

He made his name, however, with the Minnesota Kicks and enhanced his reputation with Toronto Blizzard. A quiet man with incredible skills, it is quite remarkable that his soccer career was confined to South Africa and North America. He acquired his nickname from his father, Daniel, who was also one of South Africa's top players. While Ace spent his summers in Canada or in the United States, he returned home during the winter to play for the Kaizer Chiefs, a club with an enormous following in Johannesburg. Ace played there from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. An idol in his own country, Ace spent only one season with Miami, missed the 1974 season but returned to the NASL in 1975 to play for the Denver Dynamos.

When that franchise moved to Minnesota in 1976, he moved along with them and thus began the first of six highly successful years with the Kicks. He was acquired by Toronto Blizzard in December 1981, when the Kicks were about to fold, and became a key figure in the Blizzard's rise to become one of the top NASL teams. He played for Minnesota in Soccer Bowl 76 and for Toronto in Soccer Bowl 83 and the Soccer Bowl Series of 1984. Nominally a midfielder, he constantly pushed forward into attacking positions and often scored more goals than strikers. In 1986, he returned to play with Toronto Blizzard in the National Soccer League.^[6]

Ntsoelengoe represented South Africa in 1977 versus Rhodesia.^[7]

Managing career

In 1985, he tried to start up his own team like Kaizer Motaung had. He called it Ace's Mates. It only ran for one year.

In 1997, he was manager of the South Africa U23 team.

Style of play

Former Argentinean manager Oscar Martinez remarked that the midfielder was "almost a perfect footballer. He can dribble, he can shoot, he can attack, and he can defend. He is good in the air, good on the ground and good everywhere you can think of." when the South African Invitational XI hammered an Argentina XI 5–1. Former South African national coach Clive Barker insisted the Chiefs legend was as gifted as Zinedine Zidane.^[4]

Death

"Ace" died of a heart attack on 8 May 2006 in Lenasia, just south of Johannesburg. At the time of his death he was a youth coach at Kaizer Chiefs. In tributes he was hailed as one of the best players ever produced by South Africa. One of his former coaches at Chiefs, Eddie Lewis, is quoted as saying that if he had been born 20 years later, Ace would have enjoyed the same status as Ronaldinho. This is a view shared by former Bafana Bafana coach Clive Baker, "If Ace was here now, he'd be spoken of in the same breath as Fernando Torres, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi."^[8]

In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver).^[2]

North American Soccer League Statistics

Year	Team	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
1973	Miami Toros	9	3	2	8
1975	Denver Dynamos	21	10	5	25
1976	Minnesota Kicks	22	6	4	16
1977	Minnesota Kicks	21	3	5	11
1978	Minnesota Kicks	29	9	8	26
1979	Minnesota Kicks	29	8	11	27
1980	Minnesota Kicks	32	13	17	43
1981	Minnesota Kicks	22	12	7	31
1982	Toronto Blizzard	32	14	12	40
1983	Toronto Blizzard	6	1	3	5
1984	Toronto Blizzard	21	8	8	24
11-Year Totals		244	87	82	256

References

^ "Blue Ribbon - Patrick 'Ace' Ntsoelengoe | Soccer Laduma". www.soccerladuma.co.za. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Ace: South Africa's greatest footballer?". www.southafrica.info. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013.
^ m.kaizerchiefs.com/?artId=329805&i=4690&showonly=1
^ ^a ^b sasahof.co.za/pule__ace__ntsoelengoe.html ^{[dead link‍]}
^ "Patrick Ntsoelengoe - 2003 Inductee | National Soccer Hall of Fame". Patrick Ntsoelengoe - 2003 Inductee | National Soccer Hall of Fame. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
^ Baxter, James (26 May 1986). "Blizzard dominates Roma Ntsoelengoe dazzles with footwork". The Globe and Mail. p. C2.
^ "Andries Maseko - A South African Football Legend". www.soccerladuma.co.za. Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
^ "The greatest player you never saw". BBC Sport. 6 June 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2010.