Why former Chiefs and Downs winger Lebese is not playing at TTM

Tshakuma Tsha Madzivhandila have shed some light on the future of former Kaizer Chiefs winger George Lebese at the club.

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Lebese was expected to play for the Limpopo-based club after they announced his signing last month, but due to his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from the world football governing body Fifa, the 32-year old can’t be registered to play for TTM in official games.

Lebese terminated his contract with US-based side Colorado Springs Switchbacks earlier this year.

TTM media liaison officer Rufus Matsena says the club is determined to get Lebese playing and they are now awaiting on Fifa to hand him his clearance certificate.

“We are talking about someone who has been given his clearance by his old club (Switchbacks), now it’s just a matter of getting his ITC from Fifa. That’s the reason why he is yet to play for the team. We want him at the club and we believe in him, that is why we decided to sign him,” Matsena told Phakaaathi.

“We applied for a special application for the clearance with Fifa. But you know you don’t just go to Fifa, we had to approach the South African Football Association first. There was a first application which was declined, and then we made an appeal, which we are waiting on the decision at the moment. We are hoping the decision will be made soon and he gets back to playing and earning an income. Because this is someone who has a family to feed and bills to pay.”

Matsena added that Lebese was starting to get back to full fitness and he was eager to make his debut for the club. The player has since returned home and will be training alone until the issue with his ITC is solved.

“He was getting there (full fitness), he was working very hard. It’s unfortunate that this thing with his ITC is taking longer than we expected. But hopefully it will be resolved soon. His legal team is also helping to speed up things.”

Lebese, who also played for Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United,  made his move to the US in 2020.