Bongani Zungu
After the disappointment of being relegated with French Ligue 1 side Amiens last season, Zungu is ready for the next step in his career.
Amidst a tumultuous 2019/20 season that’s seen Bongani Zungu’s Amiens relegated, reinstated and relegated again within a lengthy legal battle due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bafana Bafana star has still managed to shine brightly amongst Europe’s elite. KICK OFF’s Lorenz Kohler caught up with the 27-year-old, who opened up about his failed deadline-day transfer to LaLiga, life under national lockdown and how he’s planning to lead by example to usher South African football into a bright new era as he chases his life-long dream.
KICK OFF: The 2019/20 season has been one of the most bizarre periods in football history. How have you been affected by it? Bongani Zungu:
COVID-19 has been crazy for the whole world and for me personally with my club when the league decided to end the season. That has been very bad, to be honest. It’s been so bad. The case with Amiens has been ongoing and I just hope the club can win the battle and everything can be good. My family [has been keeping me motivated] I got the opportunity to come home and spend time with them, of course, I’ve got to quarantine with them so they keep me in good spirits and make sure that I’ve got a strong mind, so I give all the credit to them.
What has been the communication between you and Amiens throughout this period?
The message was clear before the league was cancelled, keep on being healthy so that when we restart the season everyone can be in shape. But now the only thing we talk about is the hope of winning the case against the LFP [French League Federation]. [ The club] updates us on what’s going on, what’s the latest and we read the news they send in the WhatsApp group, in which the director and the club president sends us messages.
After the 4-4 draw with PSG this season, your highlights were trending all over Twitter and it was dubbed the best game of the Ligue 1 campaign. How much did your confidence grow after that special display?
It grew because after that game we played Strasbourg and Marseille, and it was more of the [same for me] and I must give myself credit because it was after the [Real]
Mallorca deal that failed to go through and I had to be strong mentally. I had to work even harder, I had to try and help the team stay up and on a personal note, it was really hard as I was trying to move on from Amiens.
For the second time in your career, you were denied a move to LaLiga. Talk us through that experience of sitting in Mallorca, only for the deal to be terminated at the last minute?
I remember I was sitting at the reception in the hotel in Mallorca with the coach, my agent, the director and the manager of the club, and we were waiting for one document from Amiens. I did everything, the medical and everything, it was just like a clearance [certificate] and then the guys [at Amiens] didn’t pick up their phones and these guys were under so much pressure because they had to submit the papers