Casric Stars

The Solomon Mahlangu Stadium in KwaMhlanga seats 15,000, a figure that had little to do with local demand when the ground took on a senior football tenant in 2022 — the club arriving there had been playing four provinces away only months earlier. Casric Stars started out in 2012 as FC Palmeiras, sometimes written Palmeros FC, competing in the ABC Motsepe League under Mpumalanga owners Bucs Mthombeni and Caswell Mukansi. The name changed to Casric FC for the 2017–18 season and later to Casric Stars, but the defining moment came in August 2022, when the owners paid around R12 million for the status of Free State Stars. The purchase, approved ahead of the 2022–23 season, shifted the franchise from Bethlehem to KwaMhlanga and left Free State province without a club in professional football, coming so soon after Bloemfontein Celtic's status had gone the same way to Royal AM.

Before the takeover, Casric FC had already given the club its main honour, winning the SAFA Second Division's North West Stream in 2018–19 with 77 points, then finishing second in Group A of the national playoffs behind Steenberg United. Under the new name, the 2022–23 campaign brought a run to the PSL promotion play-offs, ended by three defeats in the mini-tournament, among them a 2-0 loss to Maritzburg United.

The bigger upset came in the 2025–26 Nedbank Cup, where Casric Stars beat Orlando Pirates 5-4 on penalties in the Round of 16 — Zebulon Mtshweni took the decisive spot-kick — then saw off AmaZulu 2-1 after extra time to reach the semi-finals. Bucs Mthombeni, a former Kaizer Chiefs player who owns and coaches the club, is the man credited with the fearless approach that carried the run that far.