Kaizer Motaung Snr OIS (born 16 October 1944) is a former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player and founder of

Kaizer Chiefs FC Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) are a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premier Soccer League. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Lords" or "Ch ...

, of which he is chairman and managing director. He was nicknamed "Chincha Guluva".

Early life

Born in the Orlando East section of

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

, Motaung first played professional football at the age of 16, for the

Orlando Pirates FC Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

. His entry into international football occurred in 1968, when Atlanta Chiefs founder and owner, Dick Cecil, and former

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

player

Phil Woosnam Phillip Abraham Woosnam (22 December 1932 – 19 July 2013) was a Welsh association football inside-right and manager. A native of Caersws, Powys, Wales, Woosnam played for five clubs in England and one in the United States. He played internat ...

, who was manager of the

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1968 to 1973 and again from 19 ...

franchise in the then-recently formed

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

(NASL), recruited Motaung after team trials in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

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 Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, 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 The Denver Dynamos were a soccer team based in Denver that played in the NASL from 1974 to 1975. Their home field was Mile High Stadium. After the 1975 season, they moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Kicks. History Between the 1973 and ...

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 Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) are a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premier Soccer League. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Lords" or "Chie ...

" after himself and his former NASL team. Another South African,

Jomo Sono Ephraim Matsilele Sono OIS (born Madoda Walletjies Mkulwana, 17 July 1955), better known as Jomo Sono, is a South African football club owner, coach and former professional footballer. He has been variously nicknamed the "Black Prince of South ...

, also a former player for Orlando Pirates, joined an NASL side

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

in 1977. He returned to form his own professional soccer team which he named

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos are a South African association football club based in Johannesburg that plays in the National First Division. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. In the 2021-2022 National First Division sea ...

after himself and his former NASL team, the

. Jomo Cosmos was however relegated in the 2011/12 edition of the South African

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. 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. 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 The African Cup Winners' Cup was a football competition that started in 1975 and merged with the CAF Cup in 2004 to form the CAF Confederation Cup. It was a competition between the winning clubs of domestic cups in CAF-affiliated nations and was ...

in 2001.

Football administrator

Motaung has also been active in South African football administration, having served on both the National Soccer League (NSL) and

South African Football Association The South African Football Association (colloquially known as SAFA) is the national administrative governing body that controls the sport of football in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and is a member of the Confederation of African Football ...

(SAFA) executives. In addition, Motaung co-founded (with Orlando Pirates' Irvin Khoza) the

South African Premier League South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

(PSL) in 1996, which helped bring more sponsors and money into South African professional football. Motaung currently still serves as a member of the PSL's Board of Governors, while also still running Kaizer Chiefs and being on SAFA's executive committee. He has also indicated that he would accept a position with the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football, or CAF for short (french: link=yes, Confédération Africaine de Football, ar, link=yes, الاتحاد الأفريقي لكرة القدم, al-Ittiḥād al-Afrīqī li-Kurat al-Qadam), is the administ ...

(CAF) or on world football's governing body,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. Motaung was voted 73rd in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004. He also assisted South Africa's 2010 World Cup Bid Company and was a member of the delegation that went to the FIFA head office in Zurich to be declared the winning bid. Subsequently, he was also appointed as a member of the local organising committee for the 2010 event. Also in 2004, Motaung was given the Entrepreneurial Leadership Award by

Henley Management College, South Africa Henley Business School, Africa (formerly Henley Management College, South Africa), in the Paulshof suburb of Johannesburg, is a campus of the British-based Henley Business School, one of the oldest business schools in Europe with operations in ...

. In February 2005 it was announced that Motaung would join the board of

Primedia Limited Primedia is a South African Media conglomerate, media group, headquartered in Sandton, Johannesburg. History Primedia was established in 1994 and its listing on the JSE Limited, JSE Securities Exchange was completed in April 1995. Primedia rem ...

as a

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of the ...

. Primedia is South Africa's largest private media holding company and owns 40% of Kaizer Chiefs. He has also served as a director on the boards of many other companies such as Royal Beechnut, Simba, New Age Beverages and Get Ahead.

Awards and recognition

Motaung was appointed a member of South Africa's

Order of Ikhamanga The Order of Ikhamanga is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003 and is granted by the President of South Africa for achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports (which were initially recognised b ...

, Silver class. Kaizer was also awarded a honary doctorate in 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motaung, Kaizer 1944 births Living people North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Atlanta Chiefs players Denver Dynamos players South African soccer players South African expatriate soccer players Association football forwards South African soccer managers Orlando Pirates F.C. players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Sportspeople from Soweto Kaizer Chiefs F.C. non-playing staff South African expatriate sportspeople in the United States Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga