Kaizer Chiefs F.C.

Kaizer Chiefs

Full name	Kaizer Chiefs Football Club
Nickname(s)	Amakhosi (Chiefs), Glamour Boys
Founded	January 7, 1970
Ground	Soccer City (aka FNB Stadium) Soweto, Johannesburg (Capacity: 94,736)
Chairman	Kaizer Motaung
Coach	Vladimir Vermezović
League	ABSA Premiership
2010–11	ABSA Premiership, 3rd
Home colours Away colours

Kaizer Chiefs is a South African football (soccer) club based in Johannesburg that plays in the Premier Soccer League.

The team is nicknamed Amakhosi which means "lords" or "chiefs" in Zulu and Phefeni Glamour Boys. They currently play most of their home games at Soccer City in Nasrec, Soweto, which is commonly also referred to as the FNB Stadium. The club is unarguably the biggest football club in the country in terms of success. It is also the most supported club in South Africa and the neighbouring countries of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia etc. It has been estimated that the club has over 16 million supporters.

They have a local rivalry with Orlando Pirates, a fellow Soweto team which Chiefs founder Kaizer Motaung played for in his early playing career.

Famous players who donned the black and gold jersey in the past include former national team captains Neil "Mokoko" Tovey, Lucas "Rhoo" Radebe and also Patrick "Ace" Ntsoelengoe and Doctor "16V" Khumalo.

Chiefs were banned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from competing in African club competitions until 2009 after their abrupt withdrawal from the 2005 CAF Confederation Cup. This was the second time in four years that Chiefs had been penalized by CAF for refusal to participate in a scheduled CAF competition.

Kaiser Chiefs, a British indie/britpop band, was named after the club because Lucas Radebe, a former player of Kaizer Chiefs, captained Leeds United, the team they all supported.

History

Kaizer Chiefs were founded on 7 January 1970 shortly after the return of Kaizer "Chincha Guluva" Motaung from the USA where he played as a striker for the Atlanta Chiefs of the North American Soccer League (NASL).

Several other people have played key roles in the formation and growth of Kaizer Chiefs, including the late Gilbert Sekgabi, Clarence Mlokoti, China Ngema, and Ewert "The Lip" Nene.^{[citation needed]}

Kaizer Chiefs—known as Amakhosi by its fans—was one of the first local clubs to turn fully professional.^{[citation needed]} Their headquarters is Kaizer Chiefs Village, in Naturena, six kilometres south of Johannesburg.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to its impressive record of 80 titles in 36 years, the Chiefs have also set benchmarks in local soccer sponsorship.^{[citation needed]}

The 2001/2002 season was one of the Club’s best, winning four major trophies in four months. These included the Vodacom Challenge, BP Top Eight, Coca-Cola Cup, and the CAF Cup Winners Cup, also known as the "Mandela Cup."^{[citation needed]}The team was later referred to a team that was on operation "Vat alles" an Afrikaans statement meaning "Take everything" in English by its then public relations office Putco Mafani, who later left the team due to disagreements with the management.

By virtue of winning the Mandela Cup, Chiefs went on to play the CAF Champions League winners Al-Ahly of Egypt in the Super Cup. In April 2002, the Kaizer Chiefs achievements were recognized by being chosen as “CAF Club of the Year.”^{[citation needed]}

In the 2003/2004 season Chiefs were given the Fair Play Award at the Peace Cup in South Korea. Chiefs ended the season as league champions winning the PSL for the first time in their history.^{[citation needed]}

During the championship race of the 2004/2005 soccer season, the Chiefs overtook the season-long leaders (Orlando Pirates) in the last game of the season to defend its PSL championship. Under the leadership of Romanian coach Ted Dumitru, Zambian striker Collins Mbesuma had a record-breaking season scoring 39 goals in all competitions.^{[citation needed]}

Kaizer Chiefs' forays into Africa were temporarily scuttled by a Confederation of African Football (CAF) ban. However, it still made its presence felt through the annual Vodacom Challenge that pit Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates with an invited European club. The Chiefs have won the Vodacom Challenge Cup 4 times since its inception. They beat a young Manchester United side in the 2006 Challenge to win the trophy.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2007, coach Ernst Middendorp and the club parted company. The club instantly appointed their rival team Orlando Pirates former coach Kosta Papic for the remainder of the 2006/7 season.^{[citation needed]}

Muhsin Ertugral returned for the 2007/2008 season to begin his second stint with Chiefs having already coached The Glamour Boys from 1999 until 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Stadium(s)

Amakhosi Stadium

Main article: Amakhosi Stadium

During the past years, the Amakhosi have used no less than 9 stadiums in Johannesburg as their home-ground, and often rotated between several stadiums during the season. In August 2006, the club made a strategic decision, to sign a "mutual interest agreement" with a stadium developer and the local municipality, about the construction of a new permanent home venue for Kaizer Chiefs, at a total planned cost of R1.2 billion (£105m), which should be partly owned by the club. This future home venue was named Amakhosi Stadium, and will be situated in Krugersdorp, roughly 40 km West of Johannesburg. Initially it was planned to open in December 2008, but according to the latest revised construction plan, it is now expected only to be finalized by August 2012. The planned stadium was redesigned into a cheaper project, with a new price tag at R700 million, and the capacity being reduced from 55,000 to 35,000 seats. As part of the new revised construction plan for the stadium, it was announced by Kaizer Chiefs, that they no longer plan to be one of the owners of the stadium, but remain ready to support the stadium as a long time committed tenant.

The new stadium was initially planned to be part of a greater sports precinct, into which the club would also move its entire "Kaizer Chiefs Youth Development Programme". The Gauteng Provincial Government have agreed to develop the needed infrastructures around the stadium, in order to guarantee sufficient road and railway access for the huge crowd of spectators.

The stadium developers initially had set time lines for the Amakhosi stadium, to open its doors for the public in December 2008. As of July 2010, construction however had not yet started. Kaizer Chiefs announced in August 2010, that construction of Amakhosi Stadium was now expected only to start in fall 2010, and finalised by August 2012. It had been postponed several years, due to Kaizer Chiefs and its joint partners, facing difficulties to finance the construction. For the football seasons in 2010-12, the team instead planned to use Rand Stadium as their home venue.

Kaizer Chiefs however only played 4 of their 15 home games at Rand Stadium in 2010-11, due to some experienced capacity problems, with the transportation related infrastructures around the stadium -and a low spectator attendance. Instead the team during this season, played most of their home games, at the big FNB Stadium -Soccer City.

FNB Stadium/Soccer City

Main article: FNB Stadium

FNB Stadium is a stadium located in Johannesburg, with a capacity of 94,736 seats. It is located next to the South African Football Association headquarters (SAFA House), where both the FIFA offices and the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is housed.

The Soweto derby

Main article: Soweto derby

The Soweto derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates is one of the most fiercely contested matches in world football, and in contrast to most of the other games played in the South African Premier Soccer League, matches between the two rivals always attract a large fanbase.

Achievements

League

• Premier Soccer League: 2

Champions 2003-04, 2004-05

• National Soccer League: 3

Champions 1989, 1991, 1992

• NPSL: 6

Champions 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1984

Cup competitions

• MTN 8: 14

Winners 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2001, 2006, 2008

• Telkom Knockout: 8

Winners 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011

• Nedbank Cup: 12

Winners 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1992, 2000, 2006

• Charity Spectacular: 11

Winners 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2010

• Macufe Cup: 3

Winners 2004, 2005, 2011

• JPS knockout titles: 4

Winners 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989

• Ohlsson's Challenge Cup titles: 2

Winners 1987, 1989

• Castle Challenge Cup: 2

Winners 1990, 1991

• Datsun Challenge: 1

Winners 1983

• Stylo Cup: 1

Winners 1970

• UCT Super Team Competition: 1

Winners 1972

• Sales House Cup: 6

Winners 1974, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984

• Panasonic Cup: 1

Winners 1986

International

• African Cup Winners' Cup: 1

Winners 2001

• African Club of the Year: 1

Winners 2001

• Vodacom Challenge: 5

Winners 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2009

Club records

• Most appearances – Doctor Khumalo 397
• Most goals – Marks Maponyane 85
• Most capped players – Neil Tovey 52, Doctor Khumalo 50
• Most appearances in a season – Neil Tovey 52 (1992)
• Most goals in a season (all competitions) – Collins Mbesuma - 35 2004/05 (Previous record Fani Madida 34 in 1991)
• Record win – 9–1 v Manning Rangers (Coca-Cola Challenge – 23 Mar 96)
• Record loss – 1-5 v AmaZulu (1986), Orlando Pirates (1990)

Premier Soccer League record

• 1996/97 - 2nd
• 1997/98 - 2nd
• 1998/99 - 2nd
• 1999/00 - 3rd
• 2000/01 - 2nd
• 2001/02 - 9th
• 2002/03 - 6th
• 2003/04 - 1st
• 2004/05 - 1st
• 2005/06 - 3rd
• 2006/07 - 9th
• 2007/08 - 6th
• 2008/09 - 3rd
• 2009/10 - 3rd
• 2010/11 - 3rd

Club officials/Technical team

• Executive chairman: Kaizer Motaung
• Football manager: Bobby Motaung
• Coach: Vladimir Vermezovic
• Assistant coaches: Donald Khuse & Arthur Zwane
• Goalkeeper coach: Rainer Dinkelacker

2011–12 First team squad

As of January 13, 2012 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 2 DF Jimmy Tau 3 DF Thomas Sweswe 4 DF Tefu Mashamaite 5 DF Dominic Isaacs 6 MF Reneilwe Letsholonyane 7 FW Kaizer Motaung Jnr 8 MF Tinashe Nengomasha (Vice-captain) 9 MF Josta Dladla 10 FW Mthokozisi Yende 11 MF Abia Nale 12 MF Dominic Mateba 13 DF Keegan Ritchie 14 MF Siphiwe Tshabalala 16 GK Thela Ngobeni 17 MF George Lebese 18 DF Brent Lawler

No. Position Player 19 DF Lincoln Zvasiya 20 FW Lehlohonolo Majoro 22 MF Mandla Masango 23 FW Sthembiso Ngcobo 25 FW Bernard Parker 26 FW Lucky Khune 27 MF Gerald Sibeko 28 DF Tlou Molekwane 29 DF Zhaimu Jambo 30 GK Kabelo Metsimetsi 31 MF Willard Katsande 32 GK Itumeleng Khune (Captain) 33 MF Steven Ncanana 34 GK Arthur Bartman 38 MF Lucky Baloyi 34 GK Arthur Bartman GK Carl Bauerrichter MF Abbas Amidu

On loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player - MF Siyabulela Songwiqi (at Engen Santos until 30 June 2012)

Foreigners

In the South African PSL, only five non-South African nationals can be registered. Players with foreign and South African citizenship do not count as foreigners.

• Zhaimu Jambo
• Thomas Sweswe
• Lincoln Zvasiya
• Willard Katsande
• Abbas Amidu
• Tinashe Nengomasha

Notable former players

For all Kaizer Chiefs players with a Wikipedia article see Category:Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players

Notable former coaches

• Vela Mkhwanazi (1955–69)
• Kaizer Motaung (1970), (1972–73), (1976–78)
• Orlando "La Fiera" Casares (1981–84)
• Joe Frickleton (1984–86)
• Ted Dumitru (1986–87), (2003–05)
• Jeff Butler (1988–89), (1991–92)
• Philippe Troussier (1994)
• Paul Dolezar (1997–99)
• Muhsin Ertuğral (1999–03), (2007–09)
• Ernst Middendorp (2005–07)
• Vladimir Vermezović (2009–)

Official sponsor

Vodacom

External links

• Official website
• Premier Soccer League
• PSL Club Info
• South African Football Association
• Confederation of African Football