From Pitch to Ownership: Mokotjo's Journey With D'General FC

Here's a look at how Kamohelo Mokotjo kickstarted his own football club alongside a popular radio personality.

Check it out!

What's the story?

In this season's Nedbank Cup, Sekhukhune United midfielder Kamohelo Mokotjo became the first player to be drawn in the same competition as the club he runs.

ABC Motsepe League side from the Free State, D'General FC is owned by Mokotjo and radio personality, Nyakallo Leine and the latter explained how he started a club from scratch with the Bafana Bafana international.

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Let's take a closer look...

Mokotjo's D'General FC 

Kamohelo Mokotjo and award-winning Lesedi FM radio personality, Nyakallo Leine, are the owners of D'General FC, a football club based in Botshabelo and participates in the Free State ABC Motsepe League.

D'General were one of the surprise packages in the Nedbank Cup this season, making it as far as the round of 16 before being knocked by TS Galaxy. 

The club was founded in 2019 and it was Leine, who's known as Ba2cada-D'General, that approached the former Brentford FC midfielder to start the club and fill the void left by Bloemfontein Celtic.

Leine sat down with Robert Marawa on his weekday 94.7 Marawa Sports Worldwide radio show to speak about his friendship with business partner, Mokotjo and how they started D'General.

The duo initially owned a nightclub in the Free State together for around eight years before moving onto football, Leine wanted to give back to the community by starting a football tournament in 2008, before he roped in Mokotjo to kickstart something more permanent.

"I wanted him to be part of the community, that's when I introduced it to him to form his own soccer tournament, just to give back, but unfortunately he would come back once in a year. But we wanted something to keep his name alive here at home. Look, the soccer tournament keeps the kids busy for 16 days, what do they do for the rest of the year?

"Also, the selling of Celtic and Free State Stars gave us... it was sad for the province, it still is, especially the sale of Bloemfontein Celtic, it [football] was a culture there, but instead of complaining, I was like Kamo; 'let's just do something about it. We've got this tournament but it's only for 16 days, let's do something for the talent," explained Leine to Marawa, adding:

"So, he bought into the idea, we bought a status. Because of the soccer tournament, it was easy for us to identify players. At the time, when we started, he [Mokotjo] was still playing in England. It was easy for us to create structures, like finding a coach and a technical team, the players. We started a team from scratch. We couldn't get the best of the best, because of money but we started five years ago and got third place in our first ever season," he added, who is passionate about football in the Free State and youth development.

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Mokotjo, who's played his football for Feyenoord, FC Twente and came through at SuperSport United, was called onto the show and seems to be happy with the exposure the Nedbank Cup gave his club and spoke to Marawa on the club ownership journey so far:

"We want to protect football in this country," said Mokotjo; "We love the game, we know it, that's why with D'General, which mixes my nickname and Leine's from his playing days started.

"He came to visit me in England, which I think made him fall in love with the game more, that's when we started on this joint-venture. When it comes to this club, we're taking it step-by-step, we are willing to go even longer," said Mokotjo, who admits it's not easy running a club in the Free State ABC Motsepe League.