Kaizer Motaung
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Kaizer Motaung | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 16 October 1944[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 4: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kaizer Motaung OIS (born 16 October 1944) is a former South African association football player and founder of Kaizer Chiefs FC, of which he is chairman and managing director. He was nicknamed "Chincha Guluva".
Born in the Orlando East section of Soweto, Motaung first played professional football at the age of 16, for the Orlando Pirates FC.[1]
His entry into international football occurred in 1968, when Atlanta Chiefs founder and owner, Dick Cecil, and former West Ham United player Phil Woosnam, who was manager of the Atlanta Chiefs franchise in the then-recently formed North American Soccer League (NASL), recruited Motaung after team trials in Zambia.[2]
NASL career
Despite struggling to come to terms with the weather and overcoming injury, Motaung made his North American debut for the Atlanta Chiefs as a substitute in a friendly game against Manchester City, scoring two goals in the process. He continued to play brilliantly for the rest of the season, scoring sixteen goals in fifteen matches, making him the top scorer in the league that season. As a result of this achievement, he was voted "Rookie of the Year" and gained a place on the NASL's All Star Team. In 1975, he returned to the NASL to play two seasons with the Denver Dynamos.[citation needed]
Kaizer Chiefs
When Motaung returned to his home country in 1970, he decided to start his own professional soccer team. Motaung named his club "Kaizer Chiefs" after himself and his former NASL team.[3] Another South African, Jomo Sono, also a former player for Orlando Pirates, joined an NASL side New York Cosmos in 1977. He returned to form his own professional soccer team which he named Jomo Cosmos after himself and his former NASL team, the New York Cosmos. Jomo Cosmos was however relegated in the 2011/12 edition of the South African Premier Soccer League.
Despite early setbacks and opposition, Motaung succeeded in assembling a good mix of veterans and talented rookies and the club soon became a force to be reckoned with. The Kaizer Chiefs soon had a large following.[citation needed]
Within a short time, the Kaizer Chiefs became the most successful team in South Africa, winning more than 78 trophies and gaining an estimated fourteen million supporters throughout the country. Indeed, it is often jokingly stated that Kaizer Chiefs do not really play any away matches, as their supporters always outnumber those of the home team.
One of Kaizer Chiefs' biggest achievements was winning the African Cup Winners' Cup in 2001.