When was sundowns established

The club stayed in the second division for five years only to bounce back in with the entry of Mr Cool Zola Mahobe. The flamboyant Zola Mahobe bought Sundowns in and immediately worked his charm to inspire the club to the second division league and earn a promotion to the first division. With Mr Cool in control and working his magic the club rose to glory. The latter success was attributed to Zola Mahobe who was dripping cash following the fraudulent escapades he mastered with his girlfriend, Snowy Moshoeshoe.

Zola Mahobe is said to have spent about R2m in boosting Sundowns in his first two years of owning the club. He paid top dollar to acquire talented players and rewarded them with expensive gifts including BMWs.

The arrest of Zola Mahobe in spelled a mini disaster for the high flying Sundowns. Then came the Krok brothers who bought the club from Standard Bank. They were later joined by Angelo and Natasha Tsichlas. Sundowns bounced back in spectacular fashion in the post era to claim seven league titles.

The first league winning streak started in with the club coming on top for three years in a row. Among a phalanx of big-name signings was striker Mosimane from Jomo Cosmos. Sundowns got to their first final in and as an incentive for them to win, Mahobe promised the squad a trip to the next year's FA Cup final at Wembley.

When they beat Cosmos, he duly kept his promise and Sundowns were in the crowd to watch Coventry City upset Tottenham Hotspur. They also got to play a clandestine match against Crystal Palace, a cloak and dagger affair to avoid any fallout from the sports boycott. But Mahobe was arrested not long thereafter.

It turned out his personal wealth came from his mistress, Tebello "Snowy" Moshoeshoe, a bank teller who worked the system well enough to deposit millions in various fictitious accounts. The pair were jailed and Standard Bank became the owners, quickly selling to white businessman Solly Krok, who had made his fortune from the cosmetics industry.

He kept up the purchase of star players as Sundowns won a first league title in and from there on remained a frontrunning team in all South African competitions. Up to then, Chiefs and Pirates had their pick of the best players but new financial muscle ended their gluttony in the marketplace. When Motsepe bought the club in , Sundowns were able to outbid their rivals. The best example was when Zimbabwean star Peter Ndlovu, who had played in the top flight in England, was set to finish his playing days at Chiefs instead Sundowns launched a stealthy move to snatch him away.

He became a Sundowns player instead in a brazen publicity coup and is still at the club, now as team general manager. Millions of South African Rands were poured into the club as it became something of a tycoon's play thing. Motsepe indulged his infatuation with Johan Cruyff by taking the Dutch maestro's recommendations and hiring the likes of Barcelona old boys Hristo Stoichkov and Johan Neeskens as coaches.

Under Mahobe's leadership, Sundowns changed their kit to copy the yellow and blue of Brazil, who were already among the most famous national teams in the world having won three Fifa World Cups at the time.

The club was given the nickname the Brazilians in reference to their yellow and blue kit, and Bafana Ba Style, meaning 'Boys with Style' in one of South Africa's official languages, Setswana. Furthermore, the Chloorkop-based giants' other byname is Masandawana which is township slang for Sundowns.

Since then, Sundowns became one of the top clubs in African football under the ownership of Pretoria native Patrice Motsepe, with the team having clinched the Caf Champions League title and Caf Super Cup.

The Brazilians became the second South African club to win the two continental titles after Pirates and since then Bafana Ba Style have become perennial Champions League title contenders. Sundowns are among the so-called big three clubs in the country along with Chiefs and Pirates, but the two Soweto giants have been in the shadow of Masandawana since the richest black person in South Africa, Motsepe, took charge of the club in