Patrick Ntsoelengoe

Patrick Pule "Ace" Ntsoelengoe (26 February 1956 in Randfontein – 8 May 2006 in Lenasia) was one of the most talented soccer players ever from South Africa, he played 11 seasons in the North American Soccer League, beginning in 1973 with the Miami Toros. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

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 1980's. An idol in his own country, Ace spent only one season with Miami, missed the 1975 season but returned to the NASL in 1976 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 Championship Final of 1984. Nominally a midfielder, he constantly pushed forward into attacking positions and often scored more goals than strikers.

"Ace" died of a heart attack on 8 May 2006 in Lenasia, just south of Johannesburg in South Africa. At the time of his death he was coach of the Kaizer Chiefs Youth Development Programme. 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. [http://www.sabcnews.com/sport/soccer/0,2172,127265,00.html]

North American Soccer League Statistics