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Delron Buckley

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Delron Buckley
Buckley with Borussia Dortmund in 2007
Personal information
Full name Delron Sebastian Buckley
Date of birth (1977-12-07) 7 December 1977 (age 46)
Place of birth Durban, South Africa
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
1994–1995 Butcherfille Rovers Durban
1995– VfL Bochum
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000–1998 VfL Bochum II
1995–2004 VfL Bochum 177 (20)
2004–2005 Arminia Bielefeld 29 (15)
2005–2009 Borussia Dortmund 59 (1)
2006–2007 → Basel (loan) 22 (1)
2008–2009 Borussia Dortmund II 2 (0)
2009 → Mainz 05 (loan) 12 (1)
2009–2010 Anorthosis Famagusta 20 (2)
2011–2012 Karlsruher SC 34 (2)
2012–2014 Maritzburg United 43 (3)
Total 398 (45)
International career
1998–2012 South Africa 73 (10)
Managerial career
2020–2021 Maritzburg United
2021–2023 KwaZulu-Natal
Soccer Team (assistant coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Delron Sebastian Buckley (born 7 December 1977) is a South African former professional footballer. His preferred position was the left wing although he could also play as a striker. In September 2021, he was appointed Head Coach of the University of KwaZulu-Natal soccer team.

Playing career

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Born in Durban, Buckley's football career began with his local team Butcherfille Rovers Durban. At the age of 17 he was signed by German club VfL Bochum. Buckley spent most of his career in Germany, going through Bochum's youth teams and debuting in the Bundesliga in 1995. Buckley finally broke into the first squad in 1998 and remained a starter for much of his time at Bochum.

Having spent nine professional seasons with Bochum, Buckley left in 2004 for Arminia Bielefeld where he enjoyed his most successful season personally, scoring 15 goals and helping the team avoid relegation. Buckley quickly picked up interest from higher-rated clubs. After only one season at Bielefeld, Buckley joined Borussia Dortmund for a reported transfer fee of €425,000, and signed a four-year contract.

Buckley's first season at Borussia Dortmund was largely unsuccessful as he failed to score in 28 league matches. Widely regarded as bad signing, Buckley was loaned to Swiss club FC Basel 1893.

He joined Basel's first team during their 2006–07 season under head coach Christian Gross, who was starting his eighth season in that position. Gross relied on Buckley from the first moment and he played his team debut in the Swiss Cup away game on 26 August. He also scored his first goal with the team in the same game as Basel won 6–1 against local amateur club FC Liestal.[1] He played his domestic league debut for Basel on 10 September 2006 at home in the St. Jakob-Park as Basel won 2–1 against FC Zürich.[2] In the first round of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup Basel won 7–2 on aggregate against FK Rabotnički to qualified for the group stage. Here Basel played their first match at home against Feyenoord, this ended in a 1–1 draw. The second was away and lost 3–0 away against Blackburn Rovers. At home against AS Nancy the match was drawn 2–2 and the final game ended with a 3–1 defeat against Wisła Kraków. Basel ended the group stage in last position in the table and were eliminated. Bukley played in all six of these matches.[3] At the end of the 2006–07 Super League season Basel were runners-up, one point behind championship winners Zürich.[4] In the Swiss Cup Basel advanced to the final, beating FC Liestal in the first round, Lugano, FC Baulmes, Aarau and Wil in the semi-final. In the final they played Luzern and won this 1–0 thanks to a penalty goal in the third minute of added time.[5] In his loan period with the club, Buckley played a total of 41 games for Basel scoring a total of six goals. 22 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, five in the Swiss Cup, six in the UEFA Cup and eight were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, three in the cup and the other three were scored during the test games.[6]

After returning to Dortmund in July 2007, Buckley was able to regain his place in the Borussia squad for the 2007–08 season, but fell out of favour after the arrival of new manager Jürgen Klopp.[7]

In February 2009, he signed for 1. FSV Mainz 05 for the remainder of the season and was released on 30 June 2009.[8] He then moved to Cyprian club Anorthosis Famagusta FC where he played until the end of 2010–11 season.

In January 2011, he transferred to 2. Bundesliga team Karlsruher SC.

On 26 June 2012, he signed for Maritzburg United, playing for the first time in his career in South Africa.[9]

Buckley announced his retirement as an active player in 2015.

International career

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Buckley made his international debut for the South Africa national team in a friendly against Zambia on 20 May 1998. He played 73 games and scored 10 goals for South Africa. Buckley represented his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 2004 African Nations Cup.

Managerial career

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In 2020, he was appointed head coach of Maritzburg United.

After one season, he became assistant coach of KwaZulu Football Team. Due to an altercation with a match official, he was suspended from University Football for five years in January 2024.[10]

Career statistics

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Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Buckley goal.
List of international goals scored by Delron Buckley[11][12]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 18 June 2000 Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank, South Africa  Swaziland 1–0 2–0 2000 COSAFA Cup
2 2–0
3 9 July 2000 National Sports Stadium, Harare, Zimbabwe  Zimbabwe 1–0 2–0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
4 1–0
5 13 January 2001 Sir Anerood Jugnauth Stadium, Belle Vue, Mauritius  Mauritius 1–0 1–1 2002 African Nations Cup qualification
6 27 March 2002 Lokomotivi Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia  Georgia 1–2 1–4 Friendly
7 12 October 2002 Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein, South Africa  Burundi 1–0 1–0 2004 African Nations Cup qualification
8 4 June 2005 Estádio da Várzea, Praia, Cape Verde  Cape Verde 1–0 1–1 2006 World Cup qualification
9 17 August 2005 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  Iceland 1–1 1–4 Friendly
10 24 March 2007 Stade Omnisports Idriss Mahamat Ouya, N'Djamena, Chad  Chad 1–0 3–0 2008 African Nations Cup qualification

Honours

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Borussia Dortmund

References

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  1. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (26 August 2006). "FC Liestal - FC Basel 1:6 (0:5)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (10 September 2006). "FC Basel - FC Zürich 2:1 (1:1)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  3. ^ uefa.com (30 November 2006). "Wisla Krakow SSA - FC Basel 3:1 (1:1)". uefa.com. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  4. ^ Karel Stokkermans, Erik Garin (2018). "Switzerland 2006/07". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  5. ^ Swiss Football Verband (SFV) (28 May 2007). "FC Basel - FC Luzern 1:0 (0:0))". Swiss Football Verband (SFV) internet. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  6. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (2013). "Delron Buckley - FCB statistic". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  7. ^ Delron Buckley at National-Football-Teams.com
  8. ^ "Kein Harakiri mit teuren Spielern" (in German). Rhein-Zeitung. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
  9. ^ "Buckley, Yende join Maritzburg". kickoff.com. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  10. ^ "Former Bafana star and analyst suspended". sundayworld.co.za. 7 January 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  11. ^ South Africa - International Matches 1996-2000
  12. ^ South Africa - International Matches 2001-2005
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