Mamelodi Sundowns and the University of Pretoria have announced a new partnership going forward.
It is a historic new five year affiliation, as the university of course has its own team competing in the GladAfrica Championship, making it the first technically between two professional clubs in South Africa.
Tuks Sport is highly respected and the university boasts a High Performance Centre, as well as the Tuks Sport High School.
It is also significant because this deal will more than likely be the last thing Patrice Motsepe does as Sundowns president for a while, as he is set to take up the role as President of CAF, and will hand over to his Sundowns duties to his son, Tlhopie.
The partnership will focus on development, and much of it comes down to education and coaching, where the two parties will share knowledge.
“I am very excited, and we will keep looking and assessing,” Dr Motsepe said at the announcement.
“And I think the test of our partnership will be the degree to which the people in South Africa and globally will respect the quality of players that comes from this partnership.”
“I also want to say that we must also keep in mind that football has a much bigger, and a much broader obligation in our society. As we said it unites people, brings people together, but it also has an important socio economic role in our communities and in our societies.”