About Mamelodi Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns FC is South Africa’s most successful soccer club because of their exploits both locally and continentally. Mamelodi Sundowns is a Pretoria based soccer team which is particularly from Mamelodi but they have a huge following accross South Africa. Sundowns is a seasoned soccer club which was formed in the year 1970 which makes it 53 years old now and for the past 53 years, the Sundowns supporters have been treated to some great football and these supporters are arguably the happiest fans in South Africa because their team always wins.

Mamelodi Sundowns are popularly known as the Brazilians and this is a reference to their uniforms, which echo those of the Brazilian national team, but it goes beyond the fact that their uniforms are quite similar, Sundowns also have a brand of playing football quite similar to that of the Brazilians because they play with a lot of flair and they have several technically gifted players.

Mamelodi Sundowns Fixtures

Find the latest Mamelodi Sundowns Fixtures below.

Mamelodi Sundowns Tournament Performance

Mamelodi Sundowns has always been successful but they started realising success consistently from the year 2004 when mining magnate Patrice Motsepe bought a 51% share in the club and later taking total control of the club by buying the remaining shares. Ever since that time, Sundowns has been a thorn in every other PSL side because they are the team to beat every year. To date, Sundowns have won the Premier League title a record 12 times since its inception in 1996 and they also won 3 National Soccer League Championships. In total, Sundowns has won a record 15 league titles. They have also won the Nedbank Cup six times, the MTN 8 four times and the Telkom Knockout four times. 

Sundowns’ success goes beyond South African borders because they also have silverware in continental tournaments as well. The PSL side won the 2016 CAF Champions League, 2017 CAF Super Cup and were voted the 2016 CAF Club of the Year. They are the first South African team to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup, where they finished in 6th place.

 There is a good number of people who believe that Sundowns’ success is down to their riches, which may be true because this is arguably one of the most valuable clubs not only in South Africa but in the whole of Africa, so they can afford to buy some of the best players which will always give them an advantage. Sundowns attract the best talents in South Africa and players from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, their financial muscle has seen them getting players from as far as Brazil and Uruguay such as Sirino.

Top 5 Players

Sundowns has one of the strongest squads in the South African Premier Soccer League and below is a list of their top 5 players at the moment;

Themba Zwane

Themba Zwane popularly known as Mshishi is a South African elite soccer player who is known for his dribbling ability. Zwane, who is a former Footballer of the season, joined Mamelodi Sundowns in the year 2011 from an amateur team and has had a stellar career with the Brazilians. Themba had a loan spell at Mpumalanga Black Aces before returning to establish himself in the Sundowns first team. He has scored over 40 goals in the PSL and has won numerous individual accolades at club level. Themba Zwane is also a Bafana Bafana player and has numerous caps to his name.

Mosa Lebusa

Mosa Lebusa is 30 year old South African player who plays for Mamelodi Sundowns, what makes Lebusa a great player is his versatility because he can play both as a center-back or left-back. He is an Ajax Cape Town graduate and has been capped six times for Bafana Bafana. He joined Mamelodi Sundowns in 2018 and is part of the senior group in the team and has captained the side on numerous occasions.

Peter Shalulile

Peter Shalulile is a Namibian soccer player who was born on the 23rd of October 1993. In South Africa, Shalulile started with Highlands Park at a time they were playing in the South African second tier league. After impresive perfomances for Highlands Park, Peter Shalulile finally joined Mamelodi Sundowns in the year 2020 and from that time onwards he has been scoring goals for fun. Shalulile has several honours to his name and the period from 2021 was the most succesful period for him individually because he won the PSL Footballer of the Year: 2020-21, PSL Top goalscorer: 2020-21 as well as PSL Footballer of the Season: 2021-22 amongst other top individual awards.

Rivaldo Coetzee

Rivaldo Roberto Genino Coetzee is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Mamelodi Sundowns and the South Africa national team. Rivaldo Coetzee made his professional debut at the age of 17 in the colours of Ajax Cape Town, where he was part of their youth structures. In the year 2014 he made his Bafana senior debut at the age of 17 and 361 days. He represented South Africa at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Rivaldo joined Mamelodi Sundowns in the year 2017 from Ajax Cape Town and he has been an integral part of the team since then, at the 2020/21 PSL awards, Coetzee earned himself a Midfielder of the Season nomination.

Teboho Mokoena

Teboho Mokoena is a South African player who plays as a midfielder for Mamelodi Sundowns. He started out his career after joining SuperSport United’s football academy in the 2014/15 season and was promoted to the first team within the same season. Mokoena joined Mamelodi Sundowns on the 27th of January 2022 during the January transfer window and he has been an integral part of the Sundowns midfield. Mokoena has  represented South Africa at all youth levels (U17, U20, U23) and featured for the U23 side during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. 

Current Ranking

As we have already established, Mamelodi Sundowns is arguably the best PSL side in South Africa and their ranking stats suggests that as well as no South African side is ranked better than the Brazilians, below are the rankings for Sundowns in South Africa, Africa and the world.

South Africa

Mamelodi Sundowns is ranked number 1 in South Africa.

Africa

Mamelodi Sundowns is ranked number 3 in Africa.

World

Mamelodi Sundowns is ranked number 99 in the world.

Sundowns’ two biggest competitors

Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs are Mamelodi Sundowns’ biggest competitors and their rivalry with these 2 Soweto clubs goes way back and currently Sundowns seems to be getting the better of both these teams. See also Bafana Bafana Fixtures.