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Sandile Zungu's AmaZulu has signed a youth development partnership with Levante, the Valencia club promoted to Spain's top division, creating a route into European football for players from KwaZulu-Natal.
The agreement was announced at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Sept. 17, with Levante representatives, Zungu and club officials present.
He had lost an election five days earlier. Zungu was beaten 157 votes to 82 by Danny Jordaan in the contest for the South African Football Association presidency on Sept. 12, ending a campaign fought on governance and grassroots development. He is now building at his own club what he could not build at the association.
AmaZulu has the structure to do it. Chief executive Sinenjabulo Zungu-Ntuli said it is the only club in the province with a full academy running from under-13 to under-19, and the partnership is meant to expose its players and staff to international methods and standards.
Talks ran for months. Zungu-Ntuli said she worked on it with colleagues she named as Russel and Dawoni, the latter absent from the announcement while completing a FIFA course, and that conversations with a facilitator named Marko convinced the club this was the path to take.
The target is the centenary. AmaZulu was founded in 1932, and Zungu-Ntuli said the ambition is for the majority of the senior squad to be home-grown by 2032, made up of players who came through the system and understand what it means to wear the green badge.
A second partner was mentioned at the event but not named.
Zungu bought AmaZulu in October 2020 and the club plays in the Premier Soccer League. He founded Zungu Investments Company in 2002 and chairs EOH Holdings, the Black Business Council and the Presidential BEE Advisory Council, and sits on the boards of Grindrod and Novus Holdings.
His year has been busy elsewhere. The consortium Sizekhaya Holdings, which he leads, took over the South African National Lottery licence on June 1, and his investment company bought Sumitomo's 54% interest in the Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar in May.
Levante finished last season in a position to return to La Liga, and the club has a long record of developing players for larger Spanish sides rather than buying them.
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