Kabelo Ngatane, 21, is set to make history as the first young person from Kick4Life’s programmes to take up a scholarship opportunity in the United Kingdom when he travels to Wales on September 18.
Ngatane will begin his studies at Wrexham University following a landmark partnership between Kick4Life FC, Wrexham University and the Wrexham AFC Foundation, announced at a press conference held at Kick4Life on Wednesday.
The scholarship arrangement, which began in 2025, will provide two young people from Kick4Life’s programmes with fully funded tuition to study in Wrexham.
Ngatane will pursue a Foundation Degree in Football and Community Development at Wrexham University while gaining practical experience through a placement with the Wrexham AFC Foundation.
The scholarship is the latest step in a much broader relationship between Kick4Life and Wrexham AFC, the historic Welsh club now co-owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and made famous internationally by the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series.
The two clubs formally launched a “club twinning” partnership in March 2024, aimed at fostering cooperation between community-focused football organisations in Europe and Africa.
That partnership has since grown to include coaching exchanges, joint promotion of women’s football, and the co-development of a “Football for Good” curriculum covering health, education, social inclusion and employability, with an ambition to reach 3,000 vulnerable children and young people across both communities over three years.
The initiative has drawn additional backing from the Generation Amazing Foundation and support from the British High Commission in Lesotho.
The club-to-club partnership itself builds on a much older bond: a national twinning between Wales and Lesotho dating back to 1984, born out of a meeting in Wrexham and rooted in similarities between the two nations in size, landscape, bilingualism and cultural heritage.
The addition of Wrexham University and the Wrexham AFC Foundation to the partnership in 2025 marked a further expansion of those ties, opening new pathways for young Basotho to access international education and professional development.
For the 21-year-old Ngatane, the opportunity represents another major milestone in a journey that started more than a decade ago. He joined the Kick4Life Academy in 2013 at the age of eight and progressed through the organisation’s football, academic and life-skills programmes, emerging as both a talented footballer and a promising student. He earned national team call-ups at Under-17 and Under-20 level and captained Lesotho’s Under-17 national team.
His achievements off the field have been equally impressive. In 2023, Ngatane was recognised among the top seven excelling students in the Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE), underlining his ability to excel both academically and athletically.
His move to Wales will now bring together two passions that have defined his development, football and his desire to use sport to create positive change in his community. Through the Foundation Degree, Ngatane will gain knowledge and practical experience in football coaching, leadership, community engagement and the use of sport as a vehicle for social change.
His placement with the Wrexham AFC Foundation will complement his academic studies by exposing him to a professional community football environment where he can put his knowledge into practice. For Ngatane, however, the scholarship is about far more than obtaining a qualification.
“This opportunity means everything to me. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that is going to change the trajectory of my life forever,” he said.
He said his experiences at Kick4Life had shaped his belief in football’s ability to transform communities.
“I joined Kick4Life when I was eight years old, and I have since witnessed countless lives being changed through football. That inspired me to want to use football to change my life and the lives of others.”
Ngatane believes his studies will equip him to contribute to the same kind of transformation he witnessed growing up within the Kick4Life community.
“Football has always been more than a sport to me. It has always been a powerful tool for community development and social change, especially growing up in the Kick4Life community.”
He added that he had seen first-hand how football could give young people hope while creating pathways into education and employment.
For Kick4Life, Ngatane’s selection is particularly significant because his story mirrors the organisation’s long-term approach to youth development. His journey from an eight-year-old Academy participant to a youth international, outstanding student and now international scholarship recipient demonstrates the potential that can be unlocked when young people are supported consistently across football, education and life skills.
Kick4Life Country Director Motlatsi Nkhahle said Ngatane’s story represented more than an individual achievement.
“Kabelo’s story is very significant to Kick4Life in the sense that it represents the continuation and strengthening of our partnership with Wrexham AFC Foundation, which we established in 2024.”
Nkhahle said the addition of Wrexham University had strengthened the partnership’s shared mission of using sport as a force for good.
“Kabelo is an embodiment of the relationship between Wrexham AFC and Kick4Life and our shared commitment to using football as a vehicle for social change,” he said.
The opportunity also demonstrates the growing role of football as a pathway to opportunities beyond competitive sport. In Wrexham, Ngatane will gain an internationally recognised qualification, practical experience and exposure to a different football and community-development environment, experience that could prove valuable as he charts his future.
For a youngster who first walked into the Kick4Life Academy at eight, the journey has come full circle in remarkable fashion.
From kicking a football in Lesotho as a child to preparing to study and work in Wales, Ngatane now carries with him more than a decade of experience, education and development.
His next challenge is no longer simply to succeed on the football field, but to use the lessons football has taught him to make an impact far beyond it.
Summary
- Ngatane will begin his studies at Wrexham University following a landmark partnership between Kick4Life FC, Wrexham University and the Wrexham AFC Foundation, announced at a press conference held at Kick4Life on Wednesday.
- The scholarship is the latest step in a much broader relationship between Kick4Life and Wrexham AFC, the historic Welsh club now co-owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and made famous internationally by the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series.
- He joined the Kick4Life Academy in 2013 at the age of eight and progressed through the organisation’s football, academic and life-skills programmes, emerging as both a talented footballer and a promising student.
Seabata Mahao is a general news reporter with special focus on Business and Sports. Started working at Newsday in 2021. Working in a team with a shared goal is what I enjoy most and that gives me the motivation to work under any environment leading to growth.
