The Month That Was
Looking back at the month’s most memorable moments.
• South African football mourns the loss of former AmaZulu midfielder Cedric ‘Sugar Ray’ Xulu, who passed away at the age of 81. He was regarded as one of the finest players of his generation and had a stadium in Clermont, Durban named after him.
• The South African Football Association appoint head of legal affairs Tebogo Motlanthe as their acting CEO, as he takes over from Gay Mokoena, who did not have his short-term contract renewed in April.
• Bafana Bafana star Bongani Zungu is relegated from the French Ligue 1 with his club Amiens after the season is abandoned and the final placings kept as they were before the campaign was paused in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• South Africans Thabo Cele and Sergio Marakis suffer relegation with Portuguese second-tier side Cova Piedade.
• The owners of Manchester City buy their ninth club with the acquisition of Belgian secondtier side Lommel SK. They also own New York City (USA), Melbourne City (Australia), Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan), Montevideo City Torque (Uruguay), Girona (Spain), Sichuan Jiuniu (China) and Mumbai City (India).
• FIFA have confirmed a major rule change in order to cope with the potential fixture congestion when football returns during the coronavirus pandemic, giving teams the opportunity to make five substitutions in a game. But teams will have only three opportunities to make the switches, meaning at least double-subs on two occasions.
• Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila chairman Lawrence Mulaudzi has revealed details of his plan to sell the club and buy his way
into the Absa Premiership. The club were fourth on the GladAfrica Championship table when football was suspended.
• Reigning South American champions Flamengo from Brazil have confirmed that 38 people associated with the club, including players, coaching staff and other employees, tested positive for the coronavirus.
• The leagues in Mauritius,
Angola, Kenya and Guinea saw their seasons cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic by mid-May, with others potentially following suit.
• SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews confirms that attacking midfielders Thabo Qalinge and Thabo Mnyamane will leave the club at the end of the season.
• KickOff.com reports that Maritzburg United and
Cape Town City are both targeting Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila midfielder Wonderboy Makhubu.
• Former Mamelodi Sundowns and current Kaizer Chiefs star Leonardo Castro offered his services to Egyptian giants Zamalek after the 2016 CAF Champions League final, their former manager Moamen Soliman claims.
• Italian giants AC Milan have reportedly expressed interest in signing South African forward Leo Thethani ahead of the 2020/21 Serie A campaign. Thethani currently plays for Jong Ajax Amsterdam.
• Former International striker Didier Drogba fails in his bid for the presidency of the Ivorian Football Federation after picking up no votes when up against incumbent vice-presidents Idriss Diallo and Sory Diabate.