Rapper Stormzy and Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha have teamed up to purchase English non-league team AFC Croydon Athleticwho.
Zaha, who plays for Premier League club Crystal Palace, and Stormzy are from the Croydon area of South London and have maintained a friendship over the years.
They teamed up with Danny Young, the former director of player care at Palace, to purchase the neighbourhood’s local football team, which competes in the Combined Counties League Premier South Division, the ninth division in English football.
A statement from AFC Croydon reads:
“The consortium will own, operate and develop their childhood hometown football club. While completion is subject to legislative and governance procedures, the three consortium members are excited about developing a community asset in the borough that gave them their own opportunities. They hope to take the entire community on this exciting journey with them.”
The trio’s acquisition of AFC Croydon Athletic, which currently competes in the Combined Counties League Premier South Division, the ninth tier of English football, is significant.
Stormzy’s real name is Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. He is a British rapper, singer, and songwriter who was born on July 26, 1993. He became well-known in the UK underground music scene in 2014 thanks to his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles performed over vintage grime sounds.
As a freestyle song on YouTube, Stormzy’s song “Shut Up” quickly gained popularity and reached its highest position of number eight on the UK Singles Chart after he started a campaign to become the Christmas number one single. Stormzy has designated an act to watch in the BBC’s Sound of 2015 list and won Best Grime Act at the 2014 and 2015 MOBO Awards.
Gang Signs & Prayer, his self-titled debut album from 2017, became the first grime record to top the UK Albums Chart and was named British Album of the Year at the 2018 Brit Awards. With “Vossi Bop,” Stormzy got his first UK number-one hit in 2019. His headlining performance at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival received high praise, and in response to the spike in knife violence in London, he wore a Union Jack stab vest created by Banksy.
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