Neil Tovey
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Neil Robert Tovey | ||
| Date of birth | 2 July 1962 | ||
| Place of birth | Pretoria, South Africa | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Central defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1979–1981 | Juventus Durban | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1981–1985 | Durban City | 174 | (17) |
| 1986–1989 | AmaZulu | 117 | (14) |
| 1990–1999 | Kaizer Chiefs | 341 | (27) |
| Total | 634 | (58) | |
| National team | |||
| 1992–1997 | South Africa | 52 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1998–1999 | Kaizer Chiefs (player-assistant coach) | ||
| 2000–2001 | Mamelodi Sundowns | ||
| 2001–2002 | AmaZulu | ||
| 2003–2004 | Hellenic | ||
| 2005–2006 | Mamelodi Sundowns | ||
| 2009–2010 | AmaZulu | ||
| 2010 | Mpumalanga Black Aces | ||
| 2011–2012 | Thanda Royal Zulu | ||
| 2015– | South Africa (Technical Director) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Neil Robert Tovey (born 2 Jul 1962) is a former South African footballer and now a coach. He was born in Pretoria. He holds the record for most appearances in the National Soccer League.
Tovey was born in Pretoria but grew up in Durban. He had been playing soccer since 1969. He aspired to be a doctor before opting to play professional football. His brother Mark who was also a footballer used to give him football lessons. He was also coached at junior level at Juventus Durban by Clive Barker.
He made his professional debut for Durban City in 1981 and won the 1982 and 1983 NPSL titles under Clive Barker and played 176 league games. Tovey was transfer listed on March 12, 1986.
He scored on debut in a 2--1 win over Arcadia Shepherds in Durban on 4 April 1986. He also scored in a 5--1 win over Kaizer Chiefs on June 8, 1986 in what became Chiefs' worst loss ever. He stayed until 1989 and played 117 league games.
He joined Chiefs in 1990 and took over captaincy from Howard Freese in 1992 wearing the number 9 jersey. In the same season, Tovey got a record 52 starts which is still a record. He was converted to defence by Philippe Troussier. He led Chiefs to cup victory scored two very important goals in the Rothmans Cup against QwaQwa Stars and Umtata Bush Bucks. He played 341 league games for Chiefs. He played 362 matches and scored 32 goals in all competitions. In the very last match of his career and his last two touches Chiefs colours resulted in a goal in a 5–1 win over Dynamos on 9 June 1999.
Tovey is a former player of the South Africa national football team, and won 52 caps for the national side without scoring a goal. He captained the team 29 times.
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