History
The creation of Black Rhinos F.C, bankrolled by the Zimbabwe Defense Forces in mid 1980s, nearly sank the CAPS United ship as almost all of their cream players joined the army side because of its financial potency. However, CAPS United soldiered on and would still claim some knockout tournaments with such players like Abdul Karim, Carlos Marx, Tobias Sibanda, Never “Maswera Sei” Chiku, Eddie Muchongwe, Silver “Bonzo” Chigwenje, Maxwell Cheche Biliart and Basil Chisopo.
Good old days returned to the club in 1996 when it won the Castle Larger Premier Soccer League under the tutelage of coach Steven Kwashi. Powered by the likes of indefatigable Joe "Kode" Mugabe, Morgan Nkatazo, Mpumelelo Dzowa, Lloyd Chitembwe, Farai Mbidzo, Edelbert Dinha, Charles Yohanne, Stewart "Shutto" Murisa and Alois "Criss-Cross" Bunjira, CAPS United virtually swept all before it, powering to an inevitable glory. According to Robson Sharuko, a Zimbabwean sports journalist, that was the “finest attacking team ever assembled in the ‘90s” in Zimbabwe.
A bad patch came to haunt the club in the late 1990s when it was almost relegated to Division One League football because of financial constraints faced by their sponsors, CAPS Holdings Limited. A host of players left for greener pastures to either South Africa or Europe. The sponsors decided to sell the CAPS United franchise to a hitherto little known soft spoken Harare businessman Twine Phiri. Although he struggled in the early days of running the club, Phiri remained determined to transform the club into a force to reckon with and immediately turned the club into a professional outfit. His efforts were rewarded in 2004 when the team won the Championship for the third time in its history. With Charles Mhlauri as the head coach, the team had such star players like Cephas Chimedza, Lloyd “Lodza” Chitembwe, Leonard “Aghahohwa” Tsipa, Brian “Marcopolo” Badza, Raymond Undi, Ashely Rambanepasi, Blessing Makunike and the Zambian duo of Laughter Chilembe and Ian Bakala.
Read more about this topic: CAPS United F.C.
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