President Zuma congratulates Sundowns on CAF win

Sundowns players celebrate with trophy after winning the 2016 CAF Champions League Final. Photo: Gavin Barker

Sundowns players celebrate with trophy after winning the 2016 CAF Champions League Final. Photo: Gavin Barker

Published Oct 24, 2016

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Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma on Monday congratulated the new African football champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, who won the CAF Champions League in Egypt on Sunday night.

“It is indeed a glorious moment in South Africa and we congratulate Mamelodi Sundowns players, technical team and its entire management for representing us very well in this historically difficult continental championship and earned South Africa another star.

“We are extremely proud of Sundowns for their remarkable achievement and we firmly believe that this excellent performance will take South Africa to higher levels in the international football fraternity,” said Zuma.

The CAF Champions League is the elite club competition on the African continent. Zuma further thanked football supporters and South Africans for rallying behind the team and said their support had yielded impressive results, not only for Sundowns, but for the entire nation.

Sundowns won the title despite going down 1-0 to Zamalek Football Club of Egypt on Sunday night. “The Brazilians”, as they are famously known, won the tie 3-1 on aggregate after they had beaten Zamalek 3-0 in the first leg at home in Pretoria last week.

Sundowns joins Orlando Pirates, who won Africa's top club championship in 1995 to earn the country the first star of this competition, as the local winners of the competition.

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) called on all South Africans to go out in numbers and welcome the Brazilians as they return home.

“In our view, this is no small achievement since we last celebrated this victory and achievement in 1996. The ANCYL fully appreciates that when Mamelodi Sundowns was crowned the “Team of the Year in 2015”, it was not a mistake!

“The ANCYL would like to wish Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. all of the best for the rest of this season! We call upon all the teams that will represent us in any competition from now onwards to emulate Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. and bring the Cup home!.”

African News Agency

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