MK: Just a week ago, you were promoted to rank of sergeant from police constable within the Lesotho Mounted Police Services (LMPS). SM:

Mikia Kalati: Sekhoane, congrats on the big year you’ve had both at club and national levels with all the accolades you’ve won. First thing first, who is Sekhoane Moerane?

Sekhoane Moerane:

I’m really humbled with the compliments. I think the accolades have come as a reward for the hard work I’ve been putting in at training at both club level and the national team. My journey with football started while growing up at Ha Paki in Mazenod, which is in the outskirts of Lesotho’s capital town, Maseru. That’s where the passion for the game developed playing with other boys in the dusty grounds of my village. We were just playing for fun until I joined the development ranks of my home team, Swallows FC, which is known for producing some of the best players to have played the game in Lesotho. I arrived there in 2008 playing as a right winger and I think at the age of 17, I switched to defence playing as a right back. It was during a winter tournament held in 2010 that I started playing as a goalkeeper as one of the teams did not have a goalkeeper and I volunteered to be between the sticks for them and did very well. After that tournament, when I returned to the Swallows development team, I was now playing as goalkeeper, but my coach in the development team was against me playing in goals. However, it didn’t take long before I was promoted to the Swallows first team competing in the second tier of Lesotho football and at that stage the team had a crisis as a far as the goalkeeping department was concerned. My coach at the development team was now in charge of the senior team, so he took me to play in goals and I performed very well. He was a former goalkeeper himself and from that moment, I never played as an in-field player but focused on playing as a goalkeeper.

MK: Your impressive displays have attracted the attention of several clubs in South Africa, including the big Gauteng teams.

SM:

To be honest, I was very excited when I saw the reports that South African teams are after my services. Like any other footballer, my dream is to see myself playing in bigger leagues because we all want to leave our comfort zones to go and experience new challenges. So, all in all, I’m very happy that my career is poised for bigger things, but at the same time, it’s giving me sleepless nights because nothing has been finalised yet and some of the teams are yet to approach my agent and it’s mostly things we see in the newspapers. There is a lot of pressure on me to conduct myself in a very satisfying manner both on and off the field. The pressure means I need to be at my best in every game I play. I can’t afford to drop, which is good for me to perform to the best of my abilities in every match I play.

MK: Which was the first team to make contact?

SM:

I cannot mention names at this stage, but I have heard of big teams making enquiries about me from when we played a goalless draw against Ivory Coast at Dobsonville Stadium in 2022. Well, I have had, also, a lot of agents in South Africa calling me to be their client, but I told them that I already have my own agent, and some have gone on to talk to him. So, there is nothing on the table now, but what we have is that there are teams in both the PSL (topflight) and Motsepe Foundation Championship interested in my services. What I can tell you is that I’m ready to compete with any goalkeeper anywhere, be it the PSL or the Motsepe Foundation Championship, because I love competition. I can go anywhere and compete. I don’t even want to mention names of clubs. Any club that can give me a good deal, I will go and compete and leave it with the coaches to decide as to who is their first-choice goalkeeper.

MK: You’ve been playing topflight football for just a few seasons in Lesotho. You must be surprised with how quickly you’ve progressed…

SM:

Yes, it has come as a surprise, honestly, because, as you know I’m a

Lesotho national team goalkeeper Sekhoane Moerane has been heavily linked with several of South Africa’s big guns after impressive displays for his country in the recent 2026 World Cup qualifiers as well as the COSAFA Cup that was held in Durban in July. The 26-year-old is the reigning Goalkeeper of the Season in his home country’s Vodacom Premier League and bagged the same accolade at this year’s edition of the COSAFA Cup, where his heroics helped the Mountain Kingdom police officer, I spent a lot of months out in training to become a police officer. I get to ask myself questions to say, is it really me getting all these accolades? I’ve only been playing in the Premier League since 2017 in the second round but went to the police training in 2018. I’ve only been playing consistently since April 2019. I think it’s the hunger that I have as a person and player that has pushed me to work very hard on becoming the player that I am today. The work I do after

training and on my off days… I’m always working to improve as a player. I’m doing what I love and I work hard to be perfect, but I’m not yet where I want to be. There is more to come.

MK: The year 2023 has been a special one for you, what with winning the Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the 2023 COSAFA Cup as well as in the Premier League in Lesotho.

SM:

Last season, I was nominated for the Goalkeeper of the Season award and losing to my competitors was a big motivation for me. I told myself that in the coming year, I would come back to win that award. Coming back empty-handed wasn’t the best feeling, but it made me see that I have the potential to do more than bein just a nominee. I felt I needed to double my efforts to improve my game and luckily, a season later, all worked out as I had planned to win the award in the domestic league and of course at the COSAFA Cup. Winning it at home was the motivation to fight for the same away with the national team. I’m a firm believer in prayer and I was regularly praying to the Almighty to help me have a good tournament and He did exactly that. I would say 2023 has been a year of blessings for me. God has been very good to me.

I didn’t see it coming, honestly, I know a lot of people on social media were calling for that after my good performances for the national team. It really caught me by surprise and, like we have said, 2023 has proved to be a very special year for me. This is big for me and it came earlier than expected because it’s not even five years since I joined the police. I’m very happy and I’m also glad that my team has already communicated that should a good offer be put on the table, they will let me go. I’m grateful to my principals at LMPS. Football has worked wonders for me.

MK: You produced one of the best performances in the history of the COSAFA Cup, saving three successive penalties in the semi-final against Malawi and

country reach the final of the regional tournament for the first time in 23 years. In this interview with Soccer Laduma’s Mikia Kalati, Moerane discusses the reported interest in his services from the PSL, his admiration for a retired former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper and a current one, and more…

scoring the winning spot kick as Lesotho booked a place in the final. What was the motivation on the day? SM:

I’m that goalkeeper who loves penalties with all my heart. Whenever I watch a match, especially during tournaments, I want to see the match decided on penalties. I want the same even when I’m playing, I’m always looking forward to the spot kicks because I put a lot of effort on them in training. I always select some of my teammates to have a penalty session with them daily and that has improved my game when it comes to penalties. I do that all the time at my club and national team, and it has given me confidence to save penalties. Against Malawi, if you recall, they scored through a penalty during the 90 minutes and I was very angry to have conceded that penalty because, like I said, I feel like it’s an area I should dominate based on how much I train them. So, when the match headed to the spot kicks, I told my coaches that we needed just three players to convert our penalties and I will do my part by saving two. God gave me that strength to come to the party and I saved three consecutive penalties. Coming to the one that I scored, I was a big admirer of former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez, who used to take the last penalty and would always score to win matches for his team. So, having him as my role model inspired me to do the same and that was the motivation against Malawi. My teammates all called on me to finish the job after saving the three penalties and, thank God, I scored

and we booked a place in the final.

MK: Take us back to another game against Malawi, where you saved a penalty in your debut match for Lesotho. Is there a reason you play so well against them?

SM:

Ha, ha, ha, I made my debut against them and I remember very well that Gabadinho Mhango was enjoying the form of his life scoring goals almost in every match for Orlando Pirates. So, coming up against him was motivation to play well against the in-form player and make sure he did not get a goal past me. It was my first international match for the national team and it had to be a perfect start to my international career. This game, I think I had prepared for it more than the one at the COSAFA Cup. That was a make-or-break for my career because all eyes were on Mhango and the debutant in goals for Lesotho. I had to rise to the occasion and I did just that.

MK: Was it your dream to play in South Africa?

SM:

I didn’t really target the PSL, but it has always been a dream to go big on my football career and play beyond the Lesotho borders. My aim was to make sure I become a success story in my home country, which would be a stepping stone to bigger things outside the country. I knew that doing well at home would open doors for me to go abroad.

MK: How big is the PSL in Lesotho and do you have specific clubs you’d want to play for?

SM:

Growing up, I loved Kaizer Chiefs. I supported the team because of my one class teacher who couldn’t stop talking about them, especially when they were doing well. It made him happy, and our class was always happy when Chiefs were winning, but it would turn dull when they lost. The PSL is one of the best (leagues) in the continent, it’s a top, top league and it would be a dream come true to play there because of the professionalism. Like I have said, it will go down to a team that will table the best offer for me. I feel like I’m ready to join any team that will come for my services because I’m ready to compete.

MK: You were recently handed the captain’s armband for Lesotho following the retirement of Basia Makepe. Has it been the motivation behind the fine displays against West African giants Ivory Coast, Nigeria and the last one against Benin?

SM:

I must give credit to the former captain, Makepe, because he has been the source of inspiration for me as we were also teammates at club level. Every time he was not playing at LMPS, I was tasked to step in for him and with the national team as well when he announced his retirement, I was handed the captaincy, so it motivated me to go an extra mile and lead by example

MK: How did it feel when you were given a standing ovation by journalists in Nigeria during the post-match press conference?

SM:

I was over the moon, honestly. It was a big motivation because they were genuine, and it showed that I have left a mark and Lesotho has a goalkeeper that they can be proud of. Since I started playing for the national team, I have learnt that as a country, we have the talent to play against the best, but it’s the fear factor that has worked against us for so long. I told myself that I needed to be fearless and showcase my God-given talent irrespective of who we were playing against. I had to give the football community the best of what I can offer. So, it was very special to get the standing ovation from Nigerian journalists. I had goosebumps walking to the press conference room as that would be the first time addressing members of the media in a foreign country, but they really made me feel appreciated with the standing ovation. It was a humbling experience.

MK: Several of Cote d’Ivoire’s bigname players came to congratulate you after you frustrated them in San Pedro in the recent match and they were surprised to learn that you are still playing your football in Lesotho. Take us through that moment?

SM:

It came as a big surprise as well to have such big-name players come to tell me that I deserve to be playing in Europe. They were surprised that I still play my football in Lesotho. We also played Zambia in the 2023 Afcon qualifiers and their goalkeeper also came to me saying that he feels I have outgrown the league in my country. Like I said, it was humbling to hear such comments from players that play in big leagues in Europe. Their remarks made me very happy, honestly, and it gave me confidence that there was something I was doing right.

MK: Last one as we conclude our interview. Based on how well Lesotho started its 2026 World Cup qualifiers, can they maintain those standards, be the surprise package of Group C and stun the likes of Bafana Bafana?

SM:

I think if we maintain everything we have been doing right, the team spirit, getting new faces, that will improve the team, then I think we can be the surprise package of the group. We have given Nigeria and Benin a run for their money and we can continue to do that with the rest of the teams in the group. It’s all about having the right mentality, we must make that a priority, and we can do better than we have done thus far. We do not need to fear anyone but put more effort into the good work we have started. ❐