My Football Journey: The Road to 2026 is a series following some of the most exciting young footballers in the world during a key moment in their careers.
It will follow the highs, the setbacks, and the hard work they and their clubs are putting in, and show how different their journeys are as they dream of making it to the 2026 World Cup.
Luphumlo ‘Kaka’ Sifumba spent his formative years in the streets of Philippi, a suburb of Cape Town in South Africa.
Living in a house of seven with his mother, father, three sisters and elder brother, the boy known as Kaka was the life and soul. He would play football on the streets with his friends for hours after school then bounce in for dinner, finish his food, then frustrate his parents by mistreating the dish he’d just eaten from.
“I used to kick dishes,” says Kaka, speaking to The Athletic on a video call from his base at Cape Town City’s training ground. “After I was done eating, I’d put mine down and kick it. That’s where it started for me. I played with my friends on the streets. We always fought whenever we lost. Now, I see that’s wrong.”
Nicknamed Kaka after the former Brazil midfielder by an uncle, Sifumba was always the prodigious talent in his neighbourhood. Though he was smaller than most of his peers, his ambition was greater.
“My friends where I grew up are not the same as me,” says Sifumba. “They play football, but they do not take it seriously. They would say let’s go here and there (getting up to no good), but I would always say, ‘No, man. I don’t do such things’. That’s when the sacrifices started.”
Though he is only 17, Sifumba’s short life has been full of sacrifice.
He first moved away from his local club, Flamingo FC, while in primary school, travelling into central Cape Town to play in the Youth City football academy, where he impressed coaches and scouts. However, due to registration problems, he could not sign an academy contract so went searching for new opportunities.
Undeterred by the prospect of leaving home and family again, he moved west to Delft, a small town on the outskirts of Cape Town, to play for Delft Spurs. That was where he met Welcome Qalanto, who would become his coach and mentor.
“When I was 10, I moved to Delft where I played for two years,” says Sifumba. “This is where I met Qalanto, my coach. He knows football because he was a former player. He was telling me everything. He would always tell me the truth, and he didn’t care how I took it, so that one day, if I made a mistake, I could blame him. He told me I have to sacrifice, I have to work hard to be where I want to be, and I have to stay focused. I told him, ‘You don’t have to worry about me’.”
Under Qalanto, Sifumba took the next step. The coach, who had a nine-year career as a professional in South Africa, emphasised the importance of staying humble, despite interest from professional clubs, and learning the value of not cutting corners on the training ground.
Another important figure in Sifumba’s development was his father, Alberton Mzawupheli. Like Qalanto, he was strict, but he matched that with enormous joy and pride at seeing his son succeed. When Alberton passed away this year, Sifumba promised himself and his family that he would fight for his dream in honour of his father.
“My dad gives me fire,” Sifumba says, leaning forward in his chair. “He supported me in every team I played for; even before playing for Cape Town City, he’d always take me to trials in his car. Sometimes he had no petrol and would give me money to catch a taxi to training. Even though he is no longer alive, he keeps me going.
“Football is a passion, and, along with my family, it continues to push me. They are the ones that keep me going. I have to be humble, I have to sacrifice, and I have to work hard because I know what I want. I’ve been sacrificing since I was young.”
When Sifumba was 14, a scout from Cape Town City — who play in South Africa’s top division — invited him for a trial. He impressed, and has been there ever since.
Like his namesake, Kaka is a technically gifted No 10.
“I have watched Kaka on YouTube,” says Sifumba. “He’s a good player, a really good player, and I have learnt things from watching his videos. Like him, my strengths are passing, assisting, creating spaces for others, being a coach and leader on the field, and I can score goals.
“My role models are (N’Golo) Kante, Luka Modric and Teboho Mokoena (who plays for South Africa and Pretoria side Mamelodi Sundowns, the reigning South African champions). Mokoena’s game is so simple. It’s just, ‘take the ball and pass’, like Kante and Modric. But, like me, he dribbles and shoots when he gets the chance.”
He also admires Siphiwe Tshabalala, who is among the greatest icons of South African sport.
In the opening match of the 2010 World Cup, Tshabalala put South Africa, the tournament hosts, ahead against Mexico with a thunderous left-footed strike.
Though Sifumba was only four years old at the start of that World Cup, the first to take place in Africa, he says it had a long-lasting impact on himself and his country.
“A lot of people were on the streets — some didn’t even watch football, but the World Cup is special. I remember how impressed everyone was with Siphiwe Tshabalala’s goal. It was a cracker. People were watching all of the South Africa games, that’s what I remember most. I sometimes think of the Jabulani ball and the crying and screaming crowd. Everybody was happy.”
Even more than the finish itself, perhaps the abiding memory of that Tshabalala goal was the celebration that followed. After he thundered the ball past goalkeeper Oscar Perez, he and his team-mates ran to the corner flag and broke out a rehearsed dance routine.
For Sifumba, a great goal should always be accompanied by a great celebration: “It’s a big thing for us (South Africans) to dance when we score. It is a thing that some players get motivated by. Some players love to wear Nike, Adidas and Puma, so when they score, they can take them off and kiss them. They have a passion and love for the boot, and when they play with it, they feel it.”
While he harbours dreams of one day playing in Europe like so many of his idols, Sifumba is currently focused solely on Cape Town City. In 2021, he became the youngest player to appear in the Diski Challenge — the South African reserves league — at age 15 and was subsequently invited to train with the first team.
Though he is yet to make his first league appearance, he has trained with the senior players three times a week for over a year, receiving advice from head coach Eric Tinkler, who had spells at Italian club Cagliari and England’s Barnsley as a player in the late 1990s.
“The first time I had a training session with the first team,” says Sifumba, “I was very scared and shocked. I was seeing the guys, and some of them were big, and I am so teeny and short, but I told myself that I would do what I could because I know who I am and I know what I am capable of. I did my best throughout the session.
“I feel more comfortable now. I don’t get affected when the players shout. They don’t shout because they are mad, but they shout because they are in the tempo of the game. I manage and understand that better now.”
This year, Sifumba became the first South African footballer to sign with Roc Nation Sports, a sports agency headed by rapper Jay-Z. He was also named on The Guardian’s Next Gen list, ranking the best 60 players born in or after 2005, prompting Grant Veitch, the head of development at Cape Town City, to say: “We believe he has the potential to play in Europe within the next few years.”
Right now, Sifumba is keeping his head down.
“It is a very big dream for me,” he says. “I want to play in Europe — Germany, France, England — but everything takes time. There’s a time for everything, and time will tell. I just have to keep on going and pushing, staying humble all the time, and we will see.
“I was involved on the bench twice last season, and everything must start somewhere, I say.
“Today, I’m on the bench; tomorrow, I may score goals and get Man of the Match awards. Who knows?”
(Main graphic designed by Eamonn Dalton; photo via Getty Images)