Robaato Rasamu was a manager with a blossoming reputation, fresh from causing shockwaves throughout the footballing world by leading LAFC to an impressive comeback victory over FC Barcelona. But Rasamu wasted no time reflecting on that success, as he bid farewell to Los Angeles and went in search of a new adventure.
The 49-year-old Japanese manager, who’d now lifted the Asian and North American Champions Leagues, now had three more trophies on his shortlist. His 4-star reputation meant he could probably work for most clubs around the world. But rather than head to Europe, he was keen to test his abilities on a different continent.
His LA departure coincided nicely with the end of the South African league, the only country available for Rasamu to head to Africa. Underachievement saw both Golden Arrows and Kaizer Chiefs sack their managers, so Rasamu put his name into the hat and was quickly invited to interviews with both. His preferred option was Kaizer Chiefs, largely because of the name, and was pleased to see they were the ones that came in first. So Rasamu was swapping LA for South Africa as he joined his fifth club in a fourth country on his third continent.
Who Are Kaizer Chiefs Football Club?
Kaizer Chiefs Football Club is a professional club based in Naturena, in Johannesburg South. It plays in the South African top tier, the DStv Premiership, and has traditionally been seen as the most successful club in the country’s history. It has 15 national titles (11 in the DStv era) along with a mass of cup wins but, crucially to Rasamu, has never won the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, coming as runner-up once in 2021.
The team is nicknamed AmaKhosi, which means Lords or Chiefs in Zulu, and more intriguingly the Phefeni Glamour Boys, which Rasamu absolutely loved. It’s also the most supported club in South Africa, with an estimated fan base of 16 million people, which has seen it ambitiously play at the absolutely massive 109,500-capacity FNB Stadium. It also has decent infrastructure with 16 training facilities, 15 youth recruitment, 14 junior coaching and 13 youth facilities and a 3-star reputation. Financially, things aren’t amazing with £1.6m in the bank, £1.1m to spend and a £120k wage budget of which they’re spending £107k.
Kaizer Chiefs has a fierce rivalry with current champions Orlando Pirates, against whom it plays the Soweto Derby, and other rivalries with Mamelodi Sundowns, SuperSport United, Jomo Cosmos and, fairly randomly, Egyptian side Al-Ahly. Additionally, the rock band Kaiser Chiefs was named after the football club as the band members adopted the name of their legendary player and former KC man Lucas Radebe.
In the 10 years of this save, Kaizer Chiefs haven’t won the South African title but they have won two MTN 8 cup titles, one Nedbank Cup and three Carling Black Label Cups. So it sounds like there’s a lot of cup activity in South Africa. They’ve finished 8th in the last two seasons, before which they finished in the top four for the previous six campaigns. But Rasamu’s new board only expect a top half finish in the 16-team DStv Premiership.
Meet The Kaizer Chiefs Squad
The best player at Kaizer Chiefs is 27-year-old Tanzanian attacker Nestory Irankunda. Other key players look like being striker Themba Baloyi, wingers Vusimuzi Gwala and Katlego Jane, who wants to leave at the end of his contract, centre backs Lennox Mthembu, Lerato Ntoyi and Lungile Smith and full backs Dante Meyer and Vusi Mollo. There’s also a few prospects to look out for in winger Gift Zwane, full back Lehlonolo Molatoli, centre back Sanele Mkhize and strikers Percy Mncube, Charles Madela and Thabang Makhetha.
Chiefs had a huge squad so Rasamu’s first task was to move on some of the dross, bringing in £200k for 14 players and slashing £20k off the wages. Given his lack of African knowledge and initial lack of scouts, he stuck with the players he had and promoted a few youngsters. And having assessed the players available, he was undecided between a relatively solid 3-5-2 approach and an equally basic 4-4-2.
Getting Started In Africa
The bookies have Kaizer Chiefs to finish 5th in DStv Premiership at 10/1 to win it. Champions Orlando Pirates are big favourites at 13/9 followed by SuperSport Utd (9/2), AmaTuks (11/2) and Sundowns (7/1). And, if you’re not au fait with th African top tier, the league consists of 30 matches in which teams play other twice. However, it’s also split into four periods, two of eight games and two of seven games, in which teams are handed out cash prizes for their positions during those periods.
After one month in the role, Rasamu’s first game was at home to Baroka on 30 July. They started on top and Baroka gave them a helping hand with a wild challenge. Chiefs took advantage through a first senior goal by winger Pogishu Zulu, who then created the second for striker Brian Babedi before brilliantly named Mduduzi Shabalala swiftly made himself a Rasamu favourite as he curled in a third.
Oddly, they had a month off before Rasamu’s second league game and started slowly at Sekukhune United, but Gwala’s second half strike earned a point in a game they should have won comfortably. The winger was at it again a couple of weeks later as his brace earned a 4-1 win at Casric Stars before promising striker Mncube scored on his senior debut in another 4-1 win at Marumo Gallants.
Rasamu gradually evolved his approach to an asymmetric 4-4-2 with a holding midfielder and the right winger pushed forward. That seemed to fit the Phefeni Glamour Boys very nicely and a Baloyi brace inspired a 4-1 win at home to Golden Arrows to take Chiefs to five wins and a draw from their first six.
The run continued with Zulu, playing in the advanced right winger role, scoring in a 2-1 win over SuperSport then getting the only goal at Sundowns. That set up a third successive rival clash at home to Orlando Pirates. The visitors gave Rasamu’s side the perfect start as a defender turned home Irankunda’s low cross after four minutes. It was a pretty dull game but Zulu lit it up on 64 minutes as he hit a sumptuous curling first-time shot into the top corner. Pirates got a goal back from their first shot on target, so Rasamu substituted his goalkeeper! But Chiefs continued to boss the game and Baloyi tucked away a late penalty to seal a deserved 3-1 success.
Chiefs’ unbeaten start ended at Cape Town City but, after 11 games, it was announced that they finish 1st in the first period of DStv, which bagged them £158k. Chiefs led the way with nine wins from their 11 games, scoring a league-high 30 and conceding 11.
Rival Cup Final Clash
South Africa seemingly has a wide variety of different cup competitions. The season began with a strange one-off Carling Black Label Cup, which Chiefs lost 1-0 to Orlando Pirates. But they soon breezed into the final of the MTN 8 cup competition, beating Sundowns 3-1 and Golden Arrows 1-0. That teed up another rival clash against Pirates, with Rasamu aiming to win his first proper domestic cup competition.
Chiefs had the better of the first half but missed a few chances. But they got their noses in front through Shabalala and doubled their lead with Zulu’s vicious strike on 69 minutes. Pirates came back into it late on, but Chiefs held on to secure their first silverware of Rasamu’s reign. Kaizer Chiefs won their first MTN 8 cup title for six years and extended their all-time record titles to 18.
They didn’t have the same success in the Telkom Knockout Cup. It was played in the middle of a busy league schedule so Rasamu threw the reserves in and they lost 5-3 to Sundowns in the quarter finals.
But Rasamu was loving his first few months in South Africa. The Chiefs playing squad still needed a bit of work but there were plenty of promising young prospects that he was excited to hone over the next few months. The best of them so far had been Baloyi, who has 10 goals in 14 games so far this season.
Could Rasamu maintain Kaizer Chiefs’ strong start to his reign? Join us on Monday to find out!
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