Portal:Football in Africa/Selected article/25

Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football league system. Founded in the 1970s, the team plays its home games in the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

Sundowns have won 17 League Championships in total, winning the Premier League title a record 14 times since its inception in 1996 and holding the joint record of 3 National Soccer League. It is currently the most successful football club in the South African PSL era. They won the 2016 CAF Champions League, 2017 CAF Super Cup and were voted the 2016 CAF Club of the Year. Domestically, they have also won the Nedbank Cup six times, the MTN 8 four times and the Telkom Knockout four times. They are the first South African team to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup, where they finished in 6th place. In 2021, Sundowns became the first club in Africa to win both CAF Champions League and CAF Women's Champions League titles. In 2023, Sundowns was crowned the champions of the first African Football League.

Sundowns is owned by South African business magnate Patrice Motsepe and is one of the most valuable clubs in Africa, by market value. The club takes pride in its unique style of attacking play, locally dubbed "Shoe Shine & Piano" which includes combinations of quick, short passes on the ground and this is likened to the Spanish Tiki-taka and Total Football. Over the years, this style of play has been reflected in its Youth teams and women's football team.