Back to Africa Check

South African footballer Ekstein resigns from Kaizer Chiefs after fight with manager Middendorp? No, the story is fake

A Trends Daily article published on Facebook says long-time Kaizer Chiefs football club midfielder Hendrick “Pule” Ekstein has resigned after a “fight with Ernst Middendorp”.

Middendorp rejoined Chiefs as manager in December 2018 after having coached the side from 2005 to 2007.

According to the article, a “close source” confided in a “Mr Zungu” that Ekstein, who has played in the Chiefs first team since the start of the 2015/16 season, was “fed up with [Giovanni] Solinas”, the previous manager, and “would grab an opportunity to leave”. But the article was published on 4 February 2019 - two months after Solinas left the club

Credible South African sports website Kick Off reports that Ekstein’s contract with Chiefs comes to an end in June 2019. Its says the midfielder is not happy with his new contract, stalling negotiations and prompting speculation that he may sign with another club in the next season.



Middendorp praises Ekstein


But in contrast to the report of a “fight” with Middendorp, the manager recently praised Ekstein as “an outstanding player” with the ability to carry the team with his ideas, and one of the best players he had ever worked with.

Middendorp said this after the Soweto derby between Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, the most popular soccer match-up in the South African Premier Soccer League. At the game on 9 February, Ekstein was in the Chiefs starting line-up.

There have been no other reports of a falling out between Ekstein and Middendorp, or between Ekstein and the club.

And comments on the Trends Daily Facebook post refer to its article as a “joke”, asking if the admin is “smoking something”. – Africa Check (13/02/19)




 

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.