World Club Friendlies | 07/28 13:00 | - |
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L | 0-4 | |
World Club Friendlies | 07/20 14:34 | - |
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W | 5-2 | |
South Africa Premier | 05/25 13:00 | 30 |
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L | 2-0 | |
South Africa Premier | 05/18 13:00 | 29 |
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D | 0-0 | |
South Africa Premier | 05/12 15:30 | 28 |
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D | 1-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 05/07 17:30 | 17 |
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D | 2-2 | |
South Africa Premier | 05/02 17:30 | 27 |
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L | 1-5 | |
South Africa Premier | 04/27 15:30 | 26 |
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W | 2-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 04/21 13:00 | 25 |
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L | 1-0 | |
South Africa Premier | 04/06 13:00 | 24 |
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L | 2-0 | |
South Africa Premier | 04/02 17:30 | 23 |
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L | 0-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 03/30 13:30 | 22 |
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D | 0-0 | |
South Africa Premier | 03/09 13:30 | 21 |
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L | 3-2 | |
South Africa Premier | 03/05 17:30 | 20 |
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W | 1-0 | |
South Africa Premier | 03/02 15:45 | 19 |
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D | 0-0 | |
South Africa Cup | 02/25 16:00 | 5 |
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L | 4-5 | |
South Africa Premier | 02/18 13:30 | 18 |
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D | 0-0 | |
South Africa Premier | 02/13 17:30 | 17 |
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- | Postponed | |
South Africa Premier | 12/30 18:00 | 16 |
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D | 1-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 12/23 13:30 | 15 |
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W | 1-0 | |
South Africa Premier | 12/09 13:30 | 14 |
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W | 0-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 11/26 13:30 | 13 |
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W | 0-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 11/11 13:30 | 12 |
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L | 0-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 11/08 17:30 | 11 |
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W | 3-2 | |
South Africa Premier | 10/28 13:30 | 10 |
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L | 2-1 | |
South Africa League Cup | 10/21 16:00 | 4 |
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L | 0-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 10/03 17:30 | 9 |
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L | 0-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 09/27 17:30 | 8 |
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W | 2-1 | |
South Africa Supa 8 Cup | 09/23 13:00 | 2 |
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L | 2-1 | |
South Africa Premier | 09/20 17:30 | 7 |
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L | 1-0 |
Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) are a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Betway Premiership. The team is nicknamed AmaKhosi, which means "Kings" or "Chiefs" in Zulu, and the Phefeni Glamour Boys. Chiefs have won 13 league titles (four in the PSL era) and over 42 cup trophies. The club's most recent trophy was the Shell Helix Ultra Cup trophy it won on 12 October 2019. As a result, they hold the most trophies amongst all clubs in South Africa and are the most successful team in South African football history since the start of the top flight in 1970. They are the most supported club in the country, drawing an average home attendance of 16,144 in the 2019–20 season, the highest in the league. It led to them being dubbed "The Biggest Club" in Southern Africa. The team plays its home matches at the 94,797-capacity FNB Stadium.
The team has a strong local rivalry with Orlando Pirates, a fellow Soweto team that Chiefs founder Kaizer Motaung played for in his early playing career. Famous players who donned the black-and-gold jersey in the past include former national team captains Neil Tovey and Lucas Radebe as well as Patrick Ntsoelengoe, Gary Bailey, John "Shoes" Moshoeu, Shaun Bartlett, Steve Komphela, Siyabonga Nomvete, and Doctor Khumalo.
Kaizer Chiefs were banned by the African Football (CAF) from competing in African club competitions until 2009 after their abrupt withdrawal from the 2005 CAF Confederation Cup. This was the second time in four years that Chiefs had been penalized by CAF for refusal to participate in a competition.
It is the most supported team in South Africa. Kaizer Chiefs had a support base of over 16 million at the turn of the century. In January 2023, Kaizer Chiefs celebrated their 53rd anniversary.
Kaiser Chiefs, the British indie rock/britpop band, was named after the club because Lucas Radebe, a former player of Kaizer Chiefs, captained Leeds United, the team that the band members all supported.
Kaizer Chiefs were founded in January 1970 shortly after the return of Kaizer "Chincha Guluva" Motaung from the United States where he played as a striker for the Atlanta Chiefs of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He combined his own first name with the Atlanta Chiefs to create the name of Kaizer Chiefs. Several other people have played key roles in the formation and growth of Kaizer Chiefs, including the late Gilbert Sekgabi, Clarence Mlokoti, China Ngema, Ewert "The Lip" Nene, and Rabelani Jan Mofokeng, he trailed and quit because of work.
Kaizer Chiefs are known as "Amakhosi" by its fans, a Zulu word meaning "kings" or "chiefs". Their headquarters is Kaizer Chiefs Village, in Naturena, six kilometres south of Johannesburg.
The 2001–02 season was one of the Club's most successful in their history as well as their most tragic. They won four major trophies in four months; the Vodacom Challenge, the BP Top Eight, the Coca-Cola Cup, and the African Cup Winners' Cup. At the time the team was said to have been a team that was on "Operation vat alles" by its then public relations officer Putco Mafani, "vat alles" being an Afrikaans statement meaning "take everything" in English. However, the highs of cup wins was contrasted by the lows of the Ellis Park Stadium disaster on 11 April 2001, in which 43 fans were crushed to death during the Soweto Derby between Chiefs and their arch-rivals Orlando Pirates.
By winning the African Cup Winners' Cup, Chiefs played the 2001 CAF Champions League winners Al Ahly of Egypt in the 2002 CAF Super Cup. In April 2002, Kaizer Chiefs' achievements during 2001 were recognized as they were chosen as the "CAF Club of the Year" by the Confederation of African Football.
In the 2003–04 season Chiefs were given the Fair Play Award at the Peace Cup in South Korea. Chiefs ended the season as league champions, winning the PSL for the first time in their history.
During the championship race of the 2004–05 soccer season, Chiefs overtook the season-long leaders (Orlando Pirates) in the last game of the season to defend its PSL championship. Under the leadership of Romanian coach Ted Dumitru, Zambian striker Collins Mbesuma had a record-breaking season scoring 39 goals in all competitions.
Kaizer Chiefs' forays into Africa were temporarily scuttled by a Confederation of African Football (CAF) ban. However, it still made its presence felt through the annual Vodacom Challenge that pit Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates with an invited European club. Chiefs have won the Vodacom Challenge Cup 5 times since its inception. They beat a young Manchester United side 4–3 on penalties in the 2006 Challenge to win the trophy.
In March 2007, coach Ernst Middendorp and the club parted company. The club instantly appointed their rival Orlando Pirates' former coach Kosta Papić for the remainder of the 2006–07 season.
Muhsin Ertuğral returned for the 2007–08 season to begin his second stint with Chiefs, having already coached The Glamour Boys from 1999 until 2003.
Under coach Ernst Middendorp in the 2019/20 season, Kaizer Chiefs topped the table from the seventh matchday of the season until infamously losing the title on the final day, which saw the club finishing two points behind winners Mamelodi Sundowns.
On 26 June 2021, the team secured their first CAF Champions League final appearance after defeating Wydad AC by a 1–0 aggregate.
On 9 July 2021, Kaizer Chiefs confirmed through Twitter that they signed six players for next season after their transfer ban ended. On 17 July 2021, they lost 3–0 against Al Ahly in the Champions League Final.
In the 2023/24 season, Kaizer chiefs finished in 10th position under the interim coach Cavin Johnson, making this their lowest finish in the PSL era.