"Life's great" for AmaZulu after the Spar Group yesterday announced a R20 million sponsorship of the Durban Premier Soccer League club.
The supermarket chain, which celebrates the positive elements of life with its new slogan, "Life's Great", renewed its association with the club with a three-year deal.
The financial boost comes on the back of the club recently securing Reebok as technical sponsor and during a revival in fortunes on the field that sees the team sitting comfortably in the top half of the league table.
In announcing its backing of the club, Spar Group Managing Director Roelf Venter said: "South Africans are passionate about soccer and what better way for Spar to celebrate this than by becoming involved with one of our local teams and helping them to pave the way to success."
AmaZulu chairperson Patrick Sokhela said that a stipulation of the contract was that Usuthu maintained their standing in the Premier Soccer League. He added: "AmaZulu are very excited about reuniting with Spar who partnered us at the height of our success in the early 1990s. Together we will take the club back to the top - where we belong."
The parties first worked together almost 20 years ago, and the last time Spar joined forces with AmaZulu the club went on to lift the Coca-Cola Cup in 1992. Caretaker coach Clive Barker, who had been involved then, pointed to the parallels with the current partnership.
AmaZulu could enjoy similar success this time because they are already into the quarter-finals of the Telkom Knockout, the country's richest cup competition, in which they face Bloemfontein Celtic at Absa Stadium on Wednesday night.
Barker will need to find alternatives for his defence and attack after captain, Democratic Republic of Congo defender Belux Kasonga, and striker Dumisani Ngwenya, picked up yellow cards during the weekend's 1-0 league win over Thanda Royal Zulu to be suspended for the cup clash.