Former Bafana Bafana winger Delron Buckley explained how Sibusiso Zuma lit up the Bundesliga when was playing for Arminia Bielefeld in Germany.
Buckley spent most of his career in Germany playing for the likes VfL Bochum, Bielefeld, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz 05 before returning to Maritzburg United and ultimately hang up his boots.
While Buckley had just left Bielefeld at the end of the 2004/05 season, Zuma joined them ahead of the 2005/06 campaign after becoming legendary status at FC Copenhagen, and Buckley experiencing his countryman first hand, he now described him as one of the best South African players that played in the Bundesliga.
“At the age of 30, Zuma was quality, he was unbelievable the way he plays, taking on defenders. He was skinning the defenders like there’s no tomorrow, he was the talk of the town,” Buckley said when asked by iDiski Times.
“I think there was even a song at Bielefeld that fans used to sing about Zuma, that shows the quality that he got. Impressed with everything, this is why the South African name is very big in Bielefeld because like me, Zuma, Rowen Fernandez, I think us left the legacy there, that’s why people speak about South Africans at Bielefeld, it’s the way we played. It was just extraordinary, we were different.
“A player Zuma when he had a ball in his foot , you know he was gonna do something, he’s gonna create things that you’ve never seen in Bundesliga things like that. So at the age of 30 he was quality, he was top.”
Zuma played for Bielefeld between 2005 and 2008, making 73 appearances and scoring 10 goals while assisting 11 more.
Bielefeld themselves are now playing in Germany’s third tier, the 3. Bundesliga but are in the fight for promotion this season. They also have an exciting DFB Pokal semi-final against reigning champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen ahead of them.
Meanwhile, Buckley works as brand ambassador for Bielefeld on projects with disadvantaged children in South Africa. The German side have been involved in South Africa since 2021 and Arminia is supported by the agency Schächter Sports.
