Olwethu Makhanya would add to Glasgow Rangers’ mixed history with South African players
Scottish Premier League side Glasgow Rangers are expected to announce the signing of Bafana Bafana defender Olwethu Makhanya in the coming days, and will hope he is more successful than their most recent South Afircan recruit.
Makhanya is pushing for a move away from Philadelphia Union after three years in Major League Soccer, where he established himself as a top defender.
He did not return to the club following the World Cup, claiming they had promised him a move if a suitable offer was received.
Rangers have reportedly had a bid of $4.5-million accepted for the 22-year-old as they look to beef up their defence under new manager Derek McInnes, who joined the club after taking Heart of Midlothian agonisingly close to the league title last season.
At the moment Innes only has two specialist centre-backs in Emmanuel Fernandez and former Everton defender Ben Godfrey, so is desperate for depth.
Makhanya fits the profile and if he succeeds, would have a much higher sell-on value.
The former Stellenbosch FC academy player made his professional debut against Kaizer Chiefs in October 2022 at the age of 18 and after one season was on his way to the MLS.
He made his senior team debut for Union in February 2025 and never looked back, becoming a fixture in the team despite three red cards since then.
He made his Bafana debut in May against Nicaragua but did not feature at the World Cup as Ime Okon was preferred instead.
Rangers fans’ most recent experience with a South African was not a good one as Bongani Zungu joined on loan from French side Amiens for the second half of the 2020/21 campaign.
It was a spell most notable for a punishment he received for attending a party in contravention of COVID-19 regulations at the time that elicited a six-game ban by the Scottish Football Association.
He made four starts and 16 sub appearances in his time in Glasgow, which was generally viewed as a failure.
Makhanya would be the fifth South African to feature for Rangers, with former Bafana captain Dean Furman making a single sub appearance as a 19-year-old in 2008.
You have to go back a lot further for the two others.
Don Kitchenbrand was the son of a miner from Boksburg on the East Rand who was a formidable footballer in his day and spent five years playing in Britain, starting at Rangers.
He passed away one year ago at the age of 91 and at the time of his death was the oldest living Rangers player. Kitchenbrand, quickly dubbed the ‘Rhino’, never let on he was Catholic, which would have precluded him from playing for them team had it been known.
“If they’d found out, I might have been killed. But I’m not sorry. One thing I can say is that I never failed to score against Celtic,”he said.
Kitchenbrand scored 24 goals in 25 games in his first season (1955/56), including five goals in one match against Queen of the South in an 8-0 drubbing as he spearheaded the club to the Scottish league title.
When he lost his place in the side due to injury, he switched to Sunderland in 1958.
Pretoria-born Johnny Hubbard scored 77 goals in 172 appearances for Rangers between 1949 and 1959, and remains the only foreigner to score a hat-trick for then in an Old Firm derby against Celtic.
He was later inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame and died in 2018 aged 87.
MentionsFootballPremiershipOlwethu MakhanyaPhiladelphia UnionStellenbosch FCAmiens SCDean FurmanBongani ZunguAfrican footballGlobalSouth Africa
