Lucas Radebe

A shining light and a beacon of hope: South Africa’s most legendary football player Lucas “Ru Chief” Radebe is celebrated and respected for bringing class to the beautiful game. 

From the streets of Soweto to the most competitive football fields on Earth, Lucas’s success story leads from the front - on and off the field. This is the stuff of sportsmen; the stuff of real sportsmanship – where it begins, and how it plays out. This, is Lucas Radebe.

It’s the stuff dreams are made of: You get a one-way ticket to stardom, a chance to play (and score) in the Big Leagues. And once you get there? It’s not what you thought it was going to be. In fact, “It’s tough, mate”. 

From Diepkloof Zone 4 to Leeds F.C. Stadium in Elland Road, Lucas Radebe shares his real-life take of the grit that precedes the pearl and — in the midst of toil, turmoil and the rough-slap of a reality check — what truly stands and shines in sportsmanship.

Beyond the showcase of berserk slide tackles and sensational football fame, there’s a full life that is lived. The life of a soccer legend – one that begins with a free kick on the hard-knock corner of Zone 4, in Diepkloof Soweto. 

When it comes to the journey of celebrated football star, Lucas Radebe, there is so much more to the fame and the game than what meets the eye. Lucas takes us back to take us forward, sharing his very first lessons of the beautiful game - that had nothing to do with football – and everything to do with homegrown values.

While your values create the solid foundation for how you approach and play the game, it’s through strengthening two essential skills — discipline and resilience — that you’re able to physically and mentally bring your game. 

In this episode, Lucas shares just how important building these two muscles are in becoming not only a great sportsman, but also a star.

When Lucas began his football career in 1989, the game was different; the tackle was different, the fans were different. Through the decades, Lucas has witnessed the real switch play - on and off the field. 

While the beautiful game has taken on many shapes and forms - Ru Chief got to do it all, see it all and play it all. Lucas dribbles us through some of the most influential game changes of his golden career.

What is love when it comes to playing the game all day every day? And does the love run out when you’re playing with the big boys? In an up-close-and-personal episode, Lucas tackles the concept of ‘loving what you do for a living’. 

He shares his childhood infatuation with the game and the changes that followed with a chance to discover how love can lead you, but also bleed you, into the person you were destined to be.

From sliding tackles that erupt a stadium crowd into hot hoorays and man marking that can silence the most lethal of strikers, Lucas’ legendary footy skills have made grown men cry, and the folks back in Diepkloof scream for more. 

Learn what made Lucas Radebe more than just an international football star as he shares the secrets to precise game reading – the kind that turns football players into football heroes.

What are legends made of? Hard work. In 1996, “The Chief” was invited to represent South Africa at an historic African Cup of Nations: the first ever to be played on home soil, at a time of electric, rainbow-coloured change. 

Despite months of injury and time off the field, Lucas explains how and why the work he put in behind the scenes paid off in a playoff that was one for the books.

What does it take to master a football position? In this episode, Lucas gives us his insight into feeling at home with his Centre Back position – and the elements that make up the secret sauce to defence.

Discover the true art of a defence champion - what it looks like in action; and how knowing and embracing your place on the field and off the field adds to the art of life.

He moved them to tears, tackled them to the ground, body lined them ‘til the crowds roared for more in his name. From the infamous acrobatic scissor kick to dive headers and tackles to boot, find out how a global legend of football Defense did it, does it and now, immortalizes it – as a skill of legends, everyone wants to learn. 

All here, in Lucas’s Playbox.

What do you say when one of the world's leading football teams picks you as Captain? This is the glory story of South Africa's own Lucas Radebe - player for the people, hero of Madiba.

In this episode Lucas relives everything about that transformative day in his Coach's office. This is the story of that pivotal moment of one humble man's life that would define forever his global legendary status as Football Captain of Leeds United - and the lessons that followed.

You’ve seen him at his best on and off the field, and learned from his hard-won wisdom when it comes to becoming one of South Africa’s most legendary football players. 

This bonus episode introduces the sporting icon as you’ve never seen him before – as the man who makes jokes; the man who braais at home; the man with memorabilia; the man who takes care of his family. Get your VIP pass to Lucas behind the ball, the legend, the legacy, right here!