Bafana Bafana international Siyabonga Ngezana has set the record straight regarding his highly publicised medical situation at Romanian giants FCSB, breaking his silence on his reported refusal to undergo knee surgery.
The former Kaizer Chiefs defender found himself at the centre of a storm in Bucharest after club management went public about his rehabilitation choices. The internal issue reached a boiling point when club officials revealed that the 28-year-old centre-back had declined to go under the knife for a knee injury.
But in an interview with FARPost, the Sebokeng-born star has cleared the air, outlining his side of the story regarding a decision that raised eyebrows within the European club’s hierarchy.
Ngezana’s injury troubles began in January following his return from national duty, when scans revealed a meniscus issue. The FCSB medical department and the club’s administrative board president, Mihai Stoica, strongly urged the towering defender to immediately undergo surgery to correct the problem.
However, Ngezana opted against the operation—a choice that left club officials surprised at the time. Stoica reportedly went public about the internal standoff, highlighting how rare the situation is.
“He’s injured! He refuses to have surgery,” Stoica revealed during the peak of the medical debate. “We cannot force a footballer to accept an intervention. It’s a unique case since I’ve been in football. I explained to him that it’s normal for him to be held back, but he believes he will play.”
Even the club’s owner, Gigi Becali, weighed in on the defender’s stance, labelling the situation “his madness,” while maintaining respect for Ngezana’s importance to the team.
THE REAL REASON BEHIND SKIPPING SURGERY
For Ngezana, the refusal was never an act of rebellion or defiance against his employers. Instead, the defender backed his own body, opting for a non-invasive rehabilitation programme over an invasive operation that would have guaranteed that he would be out for a long time on the sidelines.
“My injury is not a major thing that will need surgery; it is something that can wait for a bit of time and do it because if I do the operation now, recovery will take a long time,” Ngezana told FARPost. “I respect my club a lot, and refusal came from a good place.
“So I had to take some rest to manage it, as I had played a lot of games and I didn’t have any break. I went to AFCON and kept on playing a lot of games, and we also had many injuries in our team, so the issue was the [heavy] schedule, so that’s why I had a bit of a problem with my knee. I did some treatment, and I got back. The club thought that the knee might be a big problem in future, so that’s why they wanted to offer me surgery, so I was like: ‘No, let us treat it first, then see if in future it keeps coming back, then we can consider the surgery,’ but now I’m fine due to the treatment that I took.”
THE ROAD BACK: NGEZANA RETURNS TO ACTION
Defying the initial grim medical expectations from the club’s doctors, Ngezana’s conservative treatment plan paid off. After a period of individual training away from the FCSB squad to strengthen the knee, the former Amakhosi star forced his way back onto the pitch.
He initially made his competitive return with a brief 12-minute cameo appearance off the bench during a crucial 3-2 victory over Farul Constanța in April. Showing progress, he took a massive step forward on Monday, playing the full 90 minutes against FC Hermannstadt.
However, he missed out on the chance to jet off to the global showpiece, with his omission likely down to a lack of regular game time following the injury layoff.
On Thursday, Bafana coach Hugo Broos named a 32-man preliminary squad as South Africa prepares to compete at the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the first time since 2010. Broos will cut the squad down to a final 26-man group on Wednesday, May 27 at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
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