Pule ôAceö Ntsoelengoe, one of the many South African stars of the North American Soccer League, died Monday at the age of 50. Ntsoelengoe, who had been working as a youth coach at Kaizer Chiefs, was found slumped in his car at a hotel in Lenasia.
Like many South African stars of the 1970s, Ntsoelengoe could not play on the national team level because of FIFAÆs ban on South Africa competing internationally because of its Apartheid policy. He followed Kaizer Motaung — founder of Kaizer Chiefs — to North America, splitting time between the NASL and South African club soccer with Kaizer Chiefs.
The quiet midfielder spent 11 seasons in the NASL with Miami, Denver, Minnesota and Toronto and was a first-team all-star in 1979 and 1982. Some of his best seasons were with the Kicks in Minnesota, where NASL games regularly drew crowds of more 30,000 in the 1970s.
Ntsoelengoe, considered by many observers to be the greatest South African player ever, was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y., in 2003.