With Kaizer Chiefs starting their 52^nd season in the professional ranks of South African football we take a look back at five players who have laid down a marker and stole the show in Chiefs’ opening day of a league season.

Legendary players like Ace Ntsoelengoe, Bernard Parker and Thabang Lebese, as well as legendary coach Jeff Butler, are among those who masterminded some important first day Amakhosi victories.

Ace Ntsoelengoe

The great Patrick ‘Ace’ Ntsoelengoe featured for Kaizer Chiefs in 18 seasons and was on target in the opening league game on seven occasions. No Chiefs player has scored more goals in the opening league game of a campaign, as he netted a total of 17 goals in 7 different opening league encounters. This included an incredible three hattricks, all against African Wanderers in 1971, 1974 and 1975, where he scored four goals in an 11-1 win in 1971 and a 6-1 triumph in 1975. While in 1974 he scored five goals as Chiefs defeated Wanderers 10-1. Amakhosi never lost any of the seven games in which they opened up a league campaign with ‘Ace’ scoring.

Jeff Butler

In 1991 Jeff Butler led Chiefs to a 4-0 win over Manning Rangers to set the tone for an extraordinary season which saw Amakhosi win their opening 17 league games and go undefeated in their opening 22 league games. Butler was in charge in 1996 when Chiefs defeated Sundowns 2-0 in their opening league game and also oversaw Chiefs historical first game in the inaugural PSL campaign in 1996-97 season, a 1-0 triumph over Jomo Cosmos on 10 August 1996.

Thabang Lebese

‘Chillies’ netted Chiefs first league goal in four seasons, beginning in 1995 in a 3-1 away win against Rabali Blackpool. In 1996-97 he began a series of opening games in which he struck Chiefs first league goal. He made history in 1996-97 as he scored Chiefs only goal in a 1-0 win over Cosmos, Amakhosi’s first goal of the newly formed PSL. In 1997-98 he scored as Chiefs drew 3-3 with African Wanderers first up and in 1998-99 a sublime assist from Doctor Khumalo saw him net the only goal in a 1-0 triumph against Dynamos. Lebese’s four goals in the opening game of a league season were scored away from home. In the PSL era he remains the only Chiefs player to score the club’s opening league goal in three successive seasons.

Bernard Parker

At the Moses Mabhida Stadium on 11 August 2012 Bernard Parker wrote his name into Chiefs folklore by scoring four goals as Amakhosi ran riot defeating AmaZulu 6-0 in their opening league game of the season. This set up Chiefs for what would eventually turn out to be a title-winning season. They would also win the Nedbank Cup in 2012-13, with Parker coincidentally scoring the game’s only goal in Durban against SuperSport United in Stuart Baxter’s memorable first season at the Chiefs helm.

Notable mentions

Chiefs founder and Executive Chairman Kaizer Motaung grabbed four goals in a 7-1 demolition of Witbank Black Aces on the opening day of the 1973 season and Johannes ‘Big Boy’ Kholoane netted four in Chiefs opening game triumph against African Wanderers in 1974. Collins Mbesuma set the tone for what would be a memorable season in 2004-05 by scoring a hattrick in Chiefs 4-1 win over Dynamos. Stuart Baxter is the only Chiefs coach in the PSL era to have won three successive opening day league games with Amakhosi in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15. He is only the second Chiefs coach since 1996-97 to win three opening day league games.