Thembinkosi Lorch: Nyoso's Soccer Clubs, Caps and Net Worth

Thembinkosi Lorch, known across Mzansi as Nyoso, is a South African attacking midfielder born in Ficksburg, Free State, on 22 July 1993, who joined Libyan club Al Ittihad Tripoli from Wydad Casablanca in January 2026. He has 9 caps and 1 goal for South Africa between 2016 and 2022, he won the PSL's top individual award for 2018-19, and both The Citizen and Briefly estimated his net worth at about USD 5 million (about R85 million) in June 2025.

His career reads like a long distance bus ticket stamped at every stop going north, from a college side in the Free State to Soweto, Pretoria, Casablanca and Tripoli. That route is part of why the money around him gets muddled, because a net worth estimate, a monthly salary and a transfer fee are three separate things that are often quoted as one. Each reported figure is set out below with the outlet that published it and the year, and where two outlets disagree, both numbers are shown.

Who Is Thembinkosi Lorch, the Player Fans Call Nyoso?

Thembinkosi Lorch is an attacking midfielder from Ficksburg in the Free State, born on 22 July 1993. He spent nine years on the books of Orlando Pirates, won the Premiership with Mamelodi Sundowns in 2023-24, and has since played in Morocco and Libya. For a South African reader he is the winner of the PSL's top individual award in 2018-19, and for much of the rest of the continent he is the man who scored against Egypt at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Why do so many people type 'Nyoso' or just 'Lorch' instead of the full name? Nyoso is the nickname he has carried throughout his career, and it is the word supporters and South African soccer writers reach for first, while Lorch is the short surname that fits a headline and the back of a shirt. Most of the interest in him comes from Mzansi, where he is spoken about the way a neighbour talks about a cousin who moved abroad. Readers in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda tend to know him from CAF competitions and that one goal against Egypt.

From Maluti to Tripoli: Every Club and Every Move

The road starts at Maluti FET College, where Lorch played his senior soccer from 2013 to 2015 before Orlando Pirates signed him in 2015. The Buccaneers did not throw him straight into the first team, and instead sent him on loan to Cape Town All Stars for 2015-16 and to Chippa United for 2016-17. No fee has been published for the Maluti move or for either loan. It was a patient apprenticeship, the sort a young player from a small town often needs before Orlando Stadium becomes home.

Once he settled, the Sea Robbers got the longest chapter of his career. With the club he won the PSL player awards for 2018-19, a Nedbank Cup and a run of MTN 8 titles. Then came the move that still starts arguments in Soweto: he moved to Mamelodi Sundowns and finished 2023-24 as a Premiership champion with Masandawana, top of the log. No transfer fee for that switch has been published. Supporters of both clubs can point to a real share of him, which is rare for a player who crossed that divide.

The northern chapter took him to Wydad AC of Casablanca in Morocco's Botola. In January 2026 he left Wydad for Al Ittihad Tripoli in the Libyan Premier League, and Goal reported that he scored on his debut in a 1 to 0 Libyan Cup win over Al Shomooa. The fee is where the reports part ways. IOL called the transfer record breaking and put it at about USD 1.5 million (about R24 million), while Goal gave a figure of about USD 75,000.

So, which club does Thembinkosi Lorch play for? His most recent move on record is the January 2026 transfer to Al Ittihad Tripoli, and the player card above carries his registered club and updates when that changes.

What Nyoso Does on the Pitch

Lorch is at his best as an attacking midfielder working in the space between the opposition midfield and defence, although he has often drifted in from wider areas as well. He is a direct player who tends to receive the ball between the lines, run at a defender and shoot early, and that directness is what made him a crowd favourite. His value also lies in the pass before the pass, the one that shifts a defence across and opens the far side. Attackers of his type tend to be judged on moments, and he has supplied enough of them.

Which performances define him? The 2018-19 campaign comes first, when he collected all three major PSL individual awards in a single year, including the one decided by votes from fellow players. On 6 July 2019 he scored the only goal as Bafana Bafana beat Egypt 1 to 0 at the Africa Cup of Nations, the moment most of the continent remembers. With Pirates he won the MTN 8 in 2020, 2022 and 2023, was a CAF Confederation Cup runner up in 2021-22 and lifted the Nedbank Cup in 2022-23. The league title followed with Sundowns in 2023-24.

How should you read his numbers against his reputation? The season figures in the module above belong to the campaign in progress and update on their own, while the totals quoted in the text are closed chapters that carry their years. A creator is always undersold by a goals column alone, so read appearances and goals side by side before judging a spell. For Pirates people the Soweto derby is still the fixture attached to his name, and that is the lens through which any talk of a return to South African soccer gets viewed.

How Many Caps Does Lorch Have for Bafana Bafana?

Thembinkosi Lorch has 9 caps and 1 goal for Bafana Bafana, earned between 2016 and 2022. The Sunday Independent wrote in October 2025 that his ninth and last cap came in 2022. His debut year is 2016, although no exact date is recorded for that first appearance.

His international career is short on tournaments but long on one memory. Lorch went to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and scored the winner against Egypt on 6 July 2019, his only goal for his country and still the reference point when his name comes up in Lagos, Nairobi, Accra or Kampala. Followers of the Super Eagles, Harambee Stars, Black Stars and Uganda Cranes may not have watched much of the PSL, but that goal travelled. A single cap can sit quietly in a record book, whereas a goal like that one becomes part of how a tournament is retold.

Why has he been out of the national team picture since 2022? Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos left him out of the squad in 2025 and, according to IOL in November 2025, cited his age and the young talent available in his position. The Sunday Independent noted in October 2025 that his form at Wydad had reignited calls for a recall, and that he was not in the squad late that year. That is a selection call a coach building forward is entitled to make, and what would change it is simple enough to state: sustained minutes, goals and a role the younger options cannot fill.

Thembinkosi Lorch net worth

Briefly estimated Thembinkosi Lorch's net worth at USD 5 million (about R85 million) on 22 June 2025, two days after The Citizen published the same figure of about USD 5 million. Briefly named no estimator and said the total includes endorsement income, without breaking that income out. At mid 2025 exchange rates the estimate works out at roughly 7.7 billion naira, 650 million Kenyan shillings, a little over 50 million Ghanaian cedis or 18 billion Ugandan shillings. These are published estimates and never audited accounts. The two outlets agree on the net worth figure, even though the transfer fee reports differ, and none of the numbers has been verified by the player or a club.

Salary is reported the same way, as attributed estimates. The Citizen wrote in June 2025 that his pay at Orlando Pirates was estimated at R130,000 to R165,000 a month and that it reportedly rose to about R450,000 a month after his move to Mamelodi Sundowns, a figure given by The Citizen, 2025. At the R17 to the dollar implied by the R85 million estimate, R450,000 is roughly USD 26,500 a month. Briefly also relayed a much lower number, about R50,000 net a month after deductions, which was reportedly mentioned in a 2023 court hearing, and the outlet said it no longer reflects his earnings. His pay at Wydad was undisclosed, and no figure has been published for Al Ittihad.

What about endorsements and image rights? Reports in 2025 said Lorch has an endorsement deal, but neither The Citizen nor Briefly published what it pays, so no figure is public. No image rights income has been reported by a named outlet either. That matters when you read the USD 5 million headline, because Briefly said endorsement money sits inside it, and a total built partly on an unpublished number is an estimate resting on an estimate.

The transfer fee is a different number again. IOL reported on 25 January 2026 that the move to Al Ittihad was record breaking and worth about USD 1.5 million (about R24 million), while Goal put the same deal at about USD 75,000 that month, which is roughly R1.3 million at R17 to the dollar. One report is twenty times the other, and neither club's own figure has been published. Note also that the rand total in IOL's headline and web address differs from the about R24 million shown here, so the USD 1.5 million figure is the safer one to quote from that report.

How do these pieces fit together? Even the larger Tripoli figure did not go into the player's pocket, because the fee settles between the two clubs. A monthly wage is income and not wealth, in the same way that a taxi's weekly takings are not the value of the taxi, because living costs, family commitments and representatives all come out of it first. Net worth is what remains when everything owned is set against everything owed, and for a soccer player nobody outside his household has those papers.

How to Watch Lorch From South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda

Where to watch depends on which competition he is in, and the broadcast details for each country sit in the fixture module because they change with every rights cycle. As a general habit, South African supporters follow the PSL on pay television and through highlights clips, with most of the argument happening on mobile phones afterwards. The Libyan Premier League and Libyan Cup get little broadcast coverage in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana or Uganda, so readers in all five countries mostly rely on news reports and short clips for his matches with Al Ittihad.

Kick off times are easier than they look. Tripoli keeps the same clock as Johannesburg, so a Libyan fixture listed in SAST needs no conversion for a reader in Mzansi. The same match starts one hour earlier on the clock in Lagos (WAT), one hour later in Nairobi and Kampala (EAT) and two hours earlier in Accra (GMT). Every fixture entry above shows WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT together, so check the date first and then the zone that matches your phone.

Why should a move to Libya interest a reader who follows the NPFL, the KPL, the Ghana Premier League or the Uganda Premier League? North African clubs are regular buyers of talent from the rest of the continent, and their fees are often reported in dollars, which is why the same deal can sound enormous in rand, naira, cedis or shillings. Lorch has played in the South African Premiership, Morocco's Botola and the Libyan Premier League, which makes him a useful case study in how a career can be built without leaving Africa. CAF club competitions remain the best chance of seeing him against a side from your own country. Compare his path with other African soccer players, then use the fixture entries above to pick the match you can follow live.