Upon entering Lena Verdica Ralani’s lounge in her Dunstan, Kimberly home, a framed Manchester United jersey immediately captures your attention.
The priceless item, adorned with the 2007 Man U kit, stands proudly on a tall table in the living room corner, impossible to overlook.
Above it hangs a portrait of the young man who earned this irreplaceable shirt – Bradley Suprise Ralani.
Affectionately known as Sister Anne, Mama Lena keeps the portrait close in Kimberly, though her son resides 554,1 km away in Pretoria.
It’s a cherished piece of nostalgia that evokes memories of a remarkable journey.
Sister Anne often reminisces about the day in 2009 when Kagisho ‘Spakes’ Matile approached her, seeking to take her son to an academy in Johannesburg.
At that time, Bradley Suprise Ralani was working for the Department of Sports in the Northern Cape.
A former amateur footballer
A former amateur footballer herself for the Kaizer Chiefs Supporters’ Club, she had watched her five-year-old son kick the ball with keen interest. Her husband, who owned an amateur club United Eagles in the mining town, often would be refereeing for the Under 10s. So, he would hold his boy’s hand, and each time the ball came close to him, he would stop it for him to kick it in any direction. The kit he would be wearing was so big that they had to strap it around his arms with rubber bands. None of that mattered, however. “I just enjoyed kicking the ball,” Ralani tells FARPost.
Even when he was old enough to turn out for Griquas [provincial team], she continued following his progress after being recruited by the late former Chiefs star Jacob ‘Pro’ Pilane.
She vividly remembers a day she was late for a Griquas game. “I was still by the gate when I heard people celebrating a goal; I told everyone around me that I was so sure my son had scored a goal. The moment I walked into the stadium, I saw kids surrounding him celebrating,” she tells FARPost.
One moment led to the other. But, like any other journey, there are those moments that have been pivotal. Some of those moments have demanded sacrifice.
In his case, it meant quitting a government job that paid him a monthly salary to go to a football academy. “I made it clear to him he was going to an academy, and he would not get paid,” Matile tells FARPost.
Verdica Ralani’s academy stint came just a year after Chiefs
That academy stint came just a year after Chiefs released him from the Under 19 side, coached by Ace Khuse and the late Ryder Mofokeng.
“He was at Kaizer Chiefs, but they didn’t want him eventually, and we sent him to Sweden instead,” says Farouk Khan, who welcomed him at his Stars of Africa Academy.
Just a week after impressing at Stars of Africa, he happened to be playing in a friendly match. Unbeknown to him, there were scouts from Sweden following the proceedings.
“I scored two goals. I had an excellent game. They told Farouk they wanted me for Sweden, but he insisted he still wanted to polish me. The coach [Bo Nilsson] took my number, and he kept checking up on me,” the talented winger recalls.
Khan exported him to Sweden
Once Khan, a former Chiefs assistant coach, was done polishing the diamond in his hands, he exported him to Sweden, albeit for three months. Bo Nilsson, the same man who took May Mahlangu to Europe, was in charge of Helsingborg IF. Henrik Larsson, whose 242 goals in 315 matches saw Celtic fans nickname him ‘The King of Kings’, was winding up his playing career at his hometown club.
“I had a three months visa just so the club could see how I would fit in. I was training with Henrik Larsson, but he sustained a knee injury in a Uefa match,” Ralani says.
While training with Helsingborg, he would play competitively with a fourth-tier side IFK Hässleholm just to gain experience. At the end of his short stint, he returned to South Africa.
However, Nilsson had fallen in love with his game and was keen on signing him. Unfortunately, the club announced they were parting ways with him the following season. It was a massive blow for the Kimberly-born star’s hopes of a career in Europe.
Larsson hung his boots in November 2009
A few weeks down the line, Larsson hung his boots in November 2009 and was handed a coaching job by Landskrona IP while Ralani trained to keep fit back at the academy in Johannesburg. Having played with Jabu Pule at Helsingborg, popularly known as The Red Ones, the man crowned Greatest Swedish Footballer of the last 50 Years in 2003, wanted the former Amakhosi ace in his new team.
“Larsson reached out to Bo Nilsson asking him to help him get Jabu Pule [now Mahlangu],” says Ralani. Bo Nilsson, who was instrumental at the start of Larsson’s career, had other ideas. He was very convinced he had a younger version of ‘Shuffle’. ‘I’ll bring you someone younger,’ was Nilsson’s answer.
Reluctantly, the two-time La Liga winner with Barcelona agreed, throwing a lifeline at Ralani’s desire to play in Europe.
“Just out of the blue, I got a call from Bo Nilsson. He asked if I wanted to return to Sweden because Henrik wanted a player. I wanted to go back and play football professionally,” he recalls.
He arrived in Landskrona, a city usually claimed to have been founded in 1413 by the King of Denmark – Eric of Pomerania – precisely a day before the transfer window closed. On a snowy deadline day, the club had a friendly match. So, the 2006 Uefa Champions League winner threw him into the fray. He struggled to assert himself by his own admission, perhaps because of the weather. Nonetheless, Larsson handed him a short-term deal because his first touch resembled that of his former Barca teammate’s – Ronaldinho.
He compared my first touch to Ronaldinho
“He told me he was not happy with my performance. Larsson then said: ‘the one thing that showed me you’re a good player is your first touch’. He compared my first touch to Ronaldinho’s,” a blissful Ralani says.
He did not hesitate to sign the three-month contract he was offered. Interestingly, he was always the rookie coach’s first sub for the entire three months. But there was one game where the team’s left-winger was suspended. The BaSotho Tigers prodigy was deployed there, and he turned on a five-star performance, even winning man of the match. Surprisingly, in the next game, he was back on the bench.
But Larsson, who spent two months under Manchester United’s legendary manager Sir Alex Fergusson in 2007, sat him down and explained that his turn would soon come.
With just a week before the end of his short stint, Larsson needed him again. The team was trailing 1-0 with 30 minutes to go. They needed to win to keep up pace with the Superettan log leaders, who were four points ahead of them. Desperate for maximum points, the then-budding manager summoned the South African attacker. The instruction was simple: ‘go and win the game for me’. He just had to put the bit-part role frustration at the back of his mind and repay the man.
Once again, he didn’t disappoint, turning on a dazzling performance, and his two assists won them the game. “After the game, Larsson ran across the field to me, and he hugged me. He said, ‘thank you, son’. He was so happy.”
Big Swedish sides, including Malmö FF, where the great Zlatan Ibrahimović cut his football teeth, and Helsingborg were after him. His three months at Landskrona were almost over. The media had caught wind of his contract situation. So, after the 2-1 win, they were all over him. The million-dollar question was which club he would settle for.
Knowing how cunning journos could be, Larsson stood next to him throughout the post-match interviews. In an act of extraordinary generosity, football icon Henrik Larsson pledges to fund Surprise Ralani’s wages if Landskrona cannot. ‘Surprise is going nowhere; if Landskrona can’t afford him, I’ll pay him myself’. The story sent shockwaves through Sweden, dominating the front pages of newspapers nationwide.
Despite facing potential termination, the player’s performance soared, contributing seven goals and five assists in 18 games following a six-month contract extension. Larsson gifted him the signed number 17 Manchester United jersey. “He gave it to me framed and said ‘thank you for the good season’. I have his jersey till today. We couldn’t wear the jersey. I kept it framed.”
After three years in charge of the team, Larsson left. Ralani would play another two seasons before a knee injury kept him on the sidelines for several months.
“I was praying that God would help him during that period. It was painful for me,” his mom says. Her God answered her prayers when he was handed a two-year contract by Danish side Lyngby FC.
However, the club fired the coach who signed him after failing to guide them to the topflight despite being at the top for much of the season.
“A new coach [David Nielsen] had to come, and we worked with him. We won promotion to the topflight League [the following season],” he says, adding that the same coach he won the League with is the same man coaching Gift Links at Danish Superliga club AGF.
After some limited game time in the elite League, he called Larsson, who was now in charge of Helsingborg. He invited him to come and train with the team to assess him.
“I trained for five minutes, and he said, ‘stop, go and sign a contract’. I stayed another season.”
In 2017, the 34-year-old returned home to play in the PSL for the first time in Cape Town City colours. He has been a prominent player in his time in the Mother City, contributing goals and coming close to becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer. Ralani, who helped the Citizens clinch the 2018 MTN8 title under coach Benni McCarthy, scored 16 goals for the Citizens across four seasons, one behind Kermit Erasmus.
After four years with the Citizens, Mamelodi Sundowns announced his surprise signing on December 28. The journey continues at Chloorkop for the talented winger.
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