Ighodaro faces uncertain Kaizer Chiefs future after year without a goal

Kaizer Chiefs striker Etiosa Ighodaro has gone a year without scoring, leaving his future at the club increasingly uncertain as he enters the final season of his contract.

The 25-year-old’s only goal for AmaKhosi came at the end of October 2025, when he scored against Congolese club AS Simba Kolwezi in the CAF Confederation Cup.

That goal raised hopes that Ighodaro could help resolve Kaizer Chiefs’ scoring problems and potentially reach double figures during the 2025/26 campaign. However, he failed to score in his next five appearances before injuries disrupted his first season in Johannesburg.

By the end of last season, the striker had slipped out of the spotlight. He finished the campaign with one goal from 460 minutes, while missing 33 of the team’s 40 matches.

Those figures fell well short of what had been expected when he joined Kaizer Chiefs, and his representatives were hoping for a significant improvement this season.

Instead, the second and final year of his contract is now 13 games old, and Ighodaro has still not found the net since that goal against AS Simba Kolwezi.

Unlike last season, he has been fit and available for selection, but regular football has remained difficult to secure. He has spent more time on the bench or in the stands than on the pitch.

Fernando da Cruz has given him 230 minutes this season, but Ighodaro has completed a full match only once. He remains without a goal and appears to have fallen behind Wandile Duba and Flavio Silva in the pecking order.

The striker now has the remaining 21 league matches, as well as the Carling Knockout and Nedbank Cup, to alter the direction of his Kaizer Chiefs career. His performances during that period are likely to determine whether he remains at the club or moves on when his contract expires.

Ighodaro’s record in the PSL shows that reaching double figures has been a rare achievement throughout his career. He has managed at least 10 goals in a season only once, during spells with Chippa United, AmaZulu and SuperSport United.

He also played in the NFD for University of Pretoria, but has yet to establish himself as a consistent goalscorer at the highest level of South African football.