Mamelodi Sundowns soccer player Punch Masenamela was involved in his own faked kidnapping, the Hawks said.

The elite police unit's spokeman Paul Ramaloko said that last weekend, the SA Football Association and Masenamela's wife had reported that the defender had been kidnapped and a ransom of five million rand demanded.

"We immediately pursued it," said Ramaloko.

"We used our technological cellphone tracking device to trace his location."

Ramaloko said the soccer player was found at a hotel on the East Rand.

"It didn't appear to us that he was kidnapped... He was safe."

Ramaloko said that Masenamela would not be charged in this case because he had not been the one to report the incident to the police.