Cape Town - As a Premiership club, Mamelodi Sundowns are without peer in South Africa.
Since 2014, 10 Premiership titles have been on offer and Sundowns have snapped up eight with only Bidvest Wits (2017) and Kaizer Chiefs (2015) halting their dominance.
Their latest conquest is a sixth consecutive title and marks the longest winning sequence in the history of professional football in the country, the previous best was three in a row. Sundowns have now won 16 league titles, and this leaves broad daylight between themselves and the next best team, Chiefs with 12 titles.
Sundowns have a wonderful professional set-up and the club has roped in qualified officials to see to the day-to-day running of the club. Top of the list is Dane Flemming Berg, who is the club's sporting director.
He has working experience in Demark, Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. In Denmark, he has enjoyed huge success as the head of elite football development. Thanks to his efforts, Denmark moved from 46th in 2016 to ninth in the Fifa rankings five years later.
No other club in South Africa has had the initiative to appoint an official with this kind of profile. The club has been run on sound business principles since it was purchased by billionaire Patrice Motsepe,
Many will point to the club's huge financial outlay but not many will have noticed the generous returns because of winning titles.
Last season, Sundowns bagged a whopping R40-million in prize money and this season it could be substantially more. The league title is worth around R15m and to date and they won the Q1, Q2 and Q3 awards, with a collective pay-out of R4.5m.
They are likely to win the Q4 award, too, by the end of the season.
In Africa, Sundowns have qualified for the CAF Champions League quarter-finals and the guaranteed prize money is R12m. There is a significant increase as teams progress further in the competition and should they lift the title, the club will be R44m richer.
There is also the prospect of winning the Nedbank Cup, which carries a prize of R7m. If the team keep winning on all fronts, their bank account will probably swell by around R70m this season.
This past weekend the Brazilians’ head coach Rhulani Mokwena expressed his belief that his players (and by extension, the club) have not been given enough credit after wrapping up a sixth title, the latest with seven games to go, of which they will tick one off one tonight against Cape Town City (7.30pm).
Many SA fans are still beholden to Soweto giants Chiefs and Orlando Pirates but there can be no doubt that Sundowns are the true kings of the nation’s football.
@Herman_Gibbs