Atlanta's ties to World Cup: Kaizer Motaung

Fans of the Atlanta Chiefs soccer team may remember dynamic striker Kaizer "Boy Boy" Motaung.

Born in South Africa, Motaung arrived in Atlanta in 1968 and scored 11 goals in 15 games, including two in his debut against English power Manchester City. He would go on to score 32 goals in 68 games.

Coming from apartheid South Africa to Atlanta was a different experience for Motaung, who had never played with white people before.

When he returned to South Africa a few years later, he co-founded a professional soccer club, complete with the same logo that the Atlanta Chiefs used, albeit he chose gold and black as the team colors instead of red, white and blue.

In a short time the Kaizer Chiefs have become one of the most successful teams in all of Africa, winning more than 80 titles. Motaung's ties to soccer and the Kaiser Chiefs run deep: his son Kaizer Jr. plays for the team, his daughter Jessica is the marketing director, and his son Bobby is a team manager.

In addition to running the Chiefs, Motaung was one of the leaders who helped bring the World Cup to Africa for the first time. Despite many predictions that South Africa will become the first host nation to fail to advance past the opening-group stage, Motaung was not so quick to dismiss their chances.

"Bafana Bafana don't need motivation," he told kickoff.com. "We are going to have the 12th man in the stadium, and if we rally behind them, who knows what can happen?

"This is football, and in football anything can happen. They might take their game to unprecedented proportions if we are fully behind them."