Casual observers of South Africa's Betway Premiership (AKA the PSL) may be surprised to see Sekhukhune United, a team relatively new onto their radars, in fourth place in the standings.
To those unfamiliar with the ins and outs of South African football, how a club whose inaugural season was in 2020-21 could be one of the best-placed teams to challenge Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates for the title may seem a mystery.
However, to those who have sat through every twist and turn of the last five years - some of the most bizarre since the inaugural PSL season in 1996-97 - Sekhukhune's rise is only the latest twist in a uniquely South African sequence of events.
It's confusing, pay attention...
It all started in 2020, when Bidvest Wits - a club which had almost a century of history and had won the league as recently as 2016-17 - sold their top-flight status to Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM FC), a club then in the First Division (second tier).
The buying and selling of top-flight statuses - although controversial in South Africa - is a longstanding practice within the league. The only unusual aspect of this sale was that the selling club was such an historic institution. A year later, another proud footballing institution, Bloemfontein Celtic, sold its Premiership status to Royal AM.
What Royal AM and TTM FC had in common was ownership by politically connected entrepreneurs. In the case of Royal AM, it was Shauwn Mkhize, whereas TTM were owned by Lawrence Mulaudzi. Both clubs quickly fell into financial ruin, but TTM's demise was much more abrupt than the ongoing player payment saga at Royal AM.
In February 2021, Abram Sello bought TTM from Lawrence Mulaudzi, whose holding company was later liquidated over the club's failure to pay former player Cheslyn Jampies, scuppering a major government contract. TTM later changed their name to Marumo Gallants.
However, Gallants were not the only new club to emerge from the quagmire. In 2020, when TTM had bought their Premiership status from Bidvest Wits, they had sold their First Division status to a new club - Sekhukhune United - who were previously playing in the Second Division (third tier) as African All Stars.
Brothers Simon and Jonas Malatji, who had risen in the security business before branching out into other sectors, had purchased the third-tier license African All Stars in 2019. As per News24, they decided after seeing how costly running a third-tier club was and the "politics" at that level that it would be prudent to purchase TTM's second-tier license and start afresh as Sekhukhune United.
Aaaand we're back to the present day
Nicknamed "Babina Noko", the club plays its home games at the Peter Mokaba Stadium. They moved there after playing in Gauteng for two seasons, but they have always been intended as a club representative of Limpopo in the long run.
Former head coach MacDonald Makhubedu steered the club to promotion to the Premiership at the first attempt in the First Division. Sekhukhune finished 11th in their first top-flight season and Makhubedu was subsequently replaced by Kaitano Tembo.
Tembo's tenure was short-lived after a poor start to the 2022-23 season, but Brandon Truter then took over and led them to seventh place and the Nedbank Cup final. The latter achievement earned them a place in the CAF Confederation Cup qualifying rounds. Sekhukhune made it through to the group stage but were eliminated there.
Although there has since been a revolving door of coaches, positive results have continued. In 2023-24, Sekhukhune finished fourth in the Premiership, earning qualification for the early CAF Confederation Cup rounds again. Although they crashed out in the second qualifying round on away goals to Angola's CD Lunda Sul, they are proving with their league form that last season was not a fluke.
Despite recent instability in the coaching department, Sekhukhune have always recruited well and under Lehlohonolo Seema, who is currently in his second stint in charge at the club, they have found stability this season.
Andy Boyeli, their striker from DR Congo, is the league's joint second-highest scorer with five goals. However, Sekhukhune have only scored 16 goals in 14 league games this season. That is standard in a low-scoring league, but far fewer than league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns and second-placed Orlando Pirates - both of whom have netted 22 times in 11 games at the time of writing.
With 12 goals conceded compared to Sundowns' four and Pirates' five, Sekhukhune cannot claim to have the league's meanest defence either.
Their success has been built on leadership that has recruited well, never hesitated to make tough decisions, and delivered consistent, if unspectacular, results.
There is a huge gulf in quality between the squads of Sundowns, Pirates and the rest of the league, so it is unlikely that Sekhukhune or third-placed Polokwane City will mount a serious title challenge, but their rise is a rare, largely positive, story born out of the buying and selling of league statuses within the PSL, which governs South Africa's top two divisions.
However, it remains to be seen how long they can last as a serious force - and one of the downsides of the buying and selling of statuses is that clubs build history and fan bases only for their owners to sell on.
For now, at least, it seems that Sekhukhune - together with Stellenbosch FC - are one of the clubs most likely to challenge the established order of Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates and the struggling Kaizer Chiefs - who remain the best-supported club in the country and always capable of emerging from any slump they find themselves in.