by The South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns go with high minds from the World Cup and the firm conviction that they have made a name for themselves on the global stage.
The club, which was founded in a black congregation during the apartheid era, drew 0-0 with the Brazilian giant Fluminense in her last group game after beating South Korea’s Ulsan and lost 4: 3 in a thriller with Borussia Dortmund.
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On the day before their collision with Fluminense in Miami, the Sundowns organized a community event for underprivileged children in a park near Fort Lauderdale.
While he was watching the children of former players and Sundowns employees, Chairman Tlopie Motseepe thought about the effects of the tournament on his club.
“It was a wonderful experience to be at the World Cup and to be an African club that represents our continent at this phase. It made us so proud and we really felt a lot of support from home. The competition gave us a global platform,” he told AFP in an interview.
Motseepe, the son of the leading South African businessman and president of the Confederation of the African Football (CAF) Patrice Moteepe, says that the idea that the Club World Cup Clubs will be born an international presence from the outside is born through the experience of his club.
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Motseepe said that the domestic success of his club with 18 league titles and regular participation in the CAF Champions League had brought them fans at home and respect throughout Africa, but that their reputation has been distributed in the past two weeks and that the interest of social media grew significantly worldwide.
– global attention –
“When it became aware of supporters in Europe or South America, it was very very rare. We have a social media team that actually follows the numbers and where the traffic types come from our club, and it was very minimal from Europe and South America before we came here,” he said.
“But I heard experts from Europe about our football club and the way we play the game. We had supporters from Brazil who comment on our pictures … For us as an African team from South Africa, a community to get the kind of attention we get because we see the game and how we play the game, I think it’s a wonderful surprise.”
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While the hope of Motepe that the sunsets would defeat fluminense and go through the Knockout stage, he was ultimately refused, he said that his team had the core idea on which the club was founded.
“Our club was founded in the Townships of Mamelodi and created by two doctors who also wanted to give something back to their community,” he said.
“So that we are now here in this phase and know that we were also created in apartheid 55 years ago and our motto ‘The Sky is the border’ … It was always about playing football to inspire people, inspire our South Africans and Africans, not to limit themselves from the environment or the circumstances in which they are.”
It is this ambition that led the sunny to the Mills Pond Park, in which they were connected to the local community by the partner Roc Nation Sports International, the children offered the opportunity to deal directly with them.
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“We are able to share the same message and to show people through our football, of whom they know that they can be brave and they do not restrict themselves, they can compete with the best,” said Motsepe.
“It was a very special journey that we had, and it is a special opportunity that we can continue to show Africans, but I think people around the world who are for different backgrounds that they can compete and they deserve to see if they have something and an identity to share them with the world.”
SEV/MW
