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Sport

07th Jul 2017

Team fails to get promoted, so buys league winners and renames them with their own name

Talk about buying the league.

Wil Jones

When people accuse Chelsea, Manchester City or PSG of buying success, at least they’re not doing this.

Durban side AmaZulu – who you might recognise from playing friendlies against Manchester United and Manchester City in recent years – are one of the oldest clubs in South Africa, but currently sit in the second tier of the national league. This year they finished fifth in the National First Division.

Things went better for rivals Thanda Royal Zulu, who topped the league by a 12 point margin, and won promotion to the Premier Soccer League.

But now it seems AmaZulu will be playing in the PSL. How? Essentially, they just bought Thanda Royal Zulu, moved them to Durban, and changed their name to AmaZulu. Yes, they literally just bought the champions to steal their top flight status.

A statement on the PSL website read:

The club formerly known as Thanda Royal Zulu will campaign in the Premier Division of the League under the name AmaZulu Football Club and be located in Durban

And people say money is ruining modern football…