May Mahlangu

May Mahlangu
	Mahlangu playing for Helsingborgs IF in 2012
Personal information
Full name	May Sphiwe Mahlangu
Date of birth	1 May 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth	Secunda, South Africa
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Central midfielder
Youth career
2004–2006	Stars of Africa Academy
Senior career*
Years	Team
2006–2008	Alexandra United
2008–2013	Helsingborgs IF
2008–2009	→ IFK Hässleholm (loan)
2014	IFK Göteborg
2015	Konyaspor
2015–2016	Sint-Truiden
2016–2018	Dinamo București
2018–2019	Ludogorets Razgrad
2019	→ Ordabasy (loan)
2020–2021	Ordabasy
2022	Aksu
International career‡
2012–	South Africa
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 December 2022; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 August 2018

May Mahlangu (born 1 May 1989) is a South African professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder.

Club career

Early career

Mahlangu joined the Stars of Africa Academy at age 15 and played for their team Alexandra United FC.^[1]

Helsingborgs IF

Bo Nilsson was the manager of Allsvenskan club Helsingborgs IF in 2008 and through his connections with the academy he brought over Mahlangu to Sweden. Nilsson set it up so that Mahlangu would train with both Helsingborg and fourth tier club IFK Hässleholm each day, and that he would initially play league games for Hässleholm.^[2]^[3] After impressing in the Swedish lower leagues, Helsingborg decided to permanently make him a part of their squad in the summer of 2009.^[4] In 2011 the club won the Swedish league and Mahlangu was given the player of the year award.^[5]

IFK Göteborg

On 4 March 2014 Mahlangu joined Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg on a one-year contract.^[6]

Konyaspor

May Mahlangu signed with Konyaspor in January 2015 as a free transfer. On 28 February 2015, Mahlangu scored his first league goal against Fenerbahçe.

Ludogorets Razgrad

Mahlangu signed a contract with Ludogorets Razgrad in August 2018,^[7] but saw limited action for the team.

Ordabasy

In 2019 he joined Ordabasy on loan before signing permanently with the Kazakh side in 2020.^[8]

International career

In January 2012, Mahlangu made his debut for the South Africa national team in a friendly against Equatorial Guinea.^[9] He was also included in South Africa's squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.^[10]

In November 2014, Mahlangu was banned from selection for the Bafana Bafana after failing to turn up for their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sudan and Nigeria, citing fatigue.^[11]^[12]

Career statistics

Club

As of 13 February 2019^[13]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	Division	League		Cup^[a]		Continental^[b]		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
IFK Hässleholm	2008	Division 2	6	1	—		—		6	1
	2009	Division 2	10	5	0	0	—		10	5
	Total		16	6	0	0	0	0	16	6
Helsingborgs IF	2009	Allsvenskan	8	0	1	0	1	0	10	0
	2010		19	3	3	0	—		22	3
	2011		28	4	6	1	4	0	38	5
	2012		30	0	1	0	12	0	43	0
	2013		13	0	5	0	—		18	0
	Total		98	7	16	1	17	0	131	8
IFK Göteborg	2014	Allsvenskan	24	5	0	0	6	2	30	7
Konyaspor	2014–15	Süper Lig	10	1	2	0	—		12	1
Sint-Truiden	2015–16	Belgian Pro League	18	2	1	0	—		19	2
Dinamo București	2016–17	Liga I	22	0	5	1	—		27	1
	2017–18		35	2	2	0	2	0	39	2
	2018–19		5	1	0	0	—		5	1
	Total		62	3	7	1	2	0	71	4
Ludogorets Razgrad	2018–19	First League	4	1	1	0	2	0	7	1
Ludogorets Razgrad II	2018–19	Second League	3	0	—		—		3	0
Ordabasy (loan)	2019	Kazakhstan Premier League	29	3	2	0	4	0	35	3
Ordabasy	2020	Kazakhstan Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career total			264	28	29	2	31	2	324	33

^ Includes Cupa României, Cupa Ligii, Supercupa României, Bulgarian Cup and Bulgarian Supercup.
^ Includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

International

As of 7 July 2019^[14]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
South Africa	2012	6	1
	2013	7	1
	2015	2	0
	2016	3	0
Total		18	2

Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mahlangu goal.

List of international goals scored by May Mahlangu
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	22 December 2012	Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban, South Africa	Malawi	3–1	3–1	Friendly
2	27 January 2013	Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban, South Africa	Morocco	1–1	2–2	2013 Africa Cup of Nations

Honours

Helsingborgs IF

Dinamo Bucharest

Cupa Ligii: 2016–17

Individual

Allsvenskan Player of the Year: 2011

References

^ "May Mahlangu". starsofafricafootballacademy.com. Stars of Africa Football Academy. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
^ "May visade framfötterna". kristianstadsbladet.com (in Swedish). Kristianstadsbladet. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
^ "Afrikanska diamanter slipas i IFK Hässleholm". skanskan.se (in Swedish). Skånskan. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
^ "Mahlangu kan ersätta Landgren". hd.se (in Swedish). Helsingborgs Dagblad. Archived from the original on 14 August 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
^ "May Mahlangu - Årets allsvenska spelare!". hif.se (in Swedish). Helsingborgs IF. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
^ "Mahlangu klar för IFK Göteborg" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
^ "Лудогорец представи Мей Махлангу и Жуниор Брандао" (in Bulgarian). ludogorets.com. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
^ "Официально: Механович и Махлангу продлили контракты с "Ордабасы"" (in Russian). kazfootball.kz. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
^ "May debuterade i landslaget". hif.se (in Swedish). Helsingborgs IF. Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
^ "Afrikanska mästerskapen för May Mahlangu". hif.se (in Swedish). Helsingborgs IF. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
^ "Mahlangu banned from Bafana". www.sport24.co.za. sport24. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
^ "May Mahlangu banned from playing for South Africa after asking to be rested". ESPN.com. Associated Press. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
^ "May Mahlangu". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
^ "May Mahlangu". National Football Teams. Retrieved 11 May 2019.