The origins of the club date back to 1958 when the club was initially called Hellenic FC. Established by Greek South Africans, Hellenic FC was a South African football club based in Cape Town. They were nicknamed “The Greek Gods” and campaigned in the lower amateur leagues of Cape Town.

At their height in the 1960s and 1970s, the Cape Town club regularly attracted crowds of around 40,000 and had players like Gordon Banks and former England Captain Bobby Moore guesting for them. George Eastham, who together with Banks and Moore were in the England squad that won the 1966 Soccer World Cup, was a Hellenic player-coach in 1971. They were champions in 1978, the same year a rival black professional league was first created. But when the white and black leagues amalgamated in 1976, support for clubs like Hellenic dwindled dramatically over the years as white supporters sadly stayed away from mixed soccer.

In early 2004, the club’s franchise was sold by the Greek owners to Dumisani Ndlovu who renamed it Premier United and moved it to Benoni on the East Rand of Johannesburg.

In July 2007 the club was purchased by a consortium of Swedish investors led by the Olofsson Family who own Thanda Group and the exclusive five star Thanda Private Game Reserve in South Africa.

The vision of the Olofsson family, who partnered with long time family friend Maths Sundquist and well-known football coach Sven Goran Eriksson, was initially to establish a world-class football academy in South Africa where youngsters could be selected and groomed from an early age to play in Europe and ultimately for their national team. In order to achieve this vision, it was decided to purchase a football club in South Africa that operated in the PSL.

Led by Chairman Johan Glennmo (Swedish), the club with the help of board member Pierre Delvaux (South African) CEO of Thanda Group, struck a deal with the King of the Zulus, His Majesty King Zwelitini Goodwill kaBhekuzulu to change the name of the club to Thanda Royal Zulu FC. The club was relocated to ABSA Stadium in Durban, where it continued to trade in the Premier Division of the Premier Soccer League.

Its fortunes in Durban were mixed as the club beat some of the top clubs in the country including Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns whilst losing to smaller, less successful clubs as management battled to come to terms with the challenging dynamics of the football industry in South Africa. Despite concerted efforts to save the club from relegation, the club was eventually relegated in the play-offs to the National First Division in June 2009, just two seasons after it was purchased and relocated to Durban.

Unfortunately a decision was taken to sell the club after it was relegated. After several failed attempts by a South African consortium to purchase the club, it was finally taken over by Pierre Delvaux and Orpheus Panayiotou whose primary objective was to promote the club back to the Premier Division and continue with the excellent work and professional foundation that was established by the Swedes. As Pierre Delvaux was very familiar with the club after it was purchased from Dumsani Ndlovu and, enjoying the full support of the Zulu King, one of the main reasons for taking over the club apart from striving to promote it, was the preservation of the Thanda Royal Zulu name and the mission to build one of the largest supporters’ clubs in South Africa, using the Zulu Nation as its base.

To achieve this objective the club was relocated to the heart of Zululand, where in May 2010 the club moved into the new uMhlathuze Sports complex in Richards Bay. The stadium, which was completed just prior to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, was the home base for the Nigerian team during the world cup and boasts a world-class pitch and impressive facilities and offices.

Thus, Hellenic FC which is now ironically partly Greek owned, has made the arduous long journey from the Cape of Good Hope to the Land of the Zulu King in Zululand, the first ever PSL club ever to be based in Zululand, playing proudly as the Thanda Royal Zulu FC, by Appointment to His Majesty King Zwelitini Goodwill kaBhekuzulu.