African champions Mamelodi Sundowns have confirmed the departure of their long-serving striker, Peter Shalulile, after he fell down the pecking order under Miguel Cardoso.
The Namibia international, now 32, was on the verge of departing a year ago amid reported interest from North Africa, but ultimately opted to stay and fight for his place. Now, however, he bids farewell to Masandawana.
"The journey has been good; it's been amazing. Coming to a club where there are top players; it's difficult but with all the listening, hard work and dedication, I've got quite a number of records and trophies -- the league, MTN8, Nedbank [Cup] -- you can mention all of them. It was a lot," Shalulile said in a video posted on Sundowns' social media.
The striker thanked Sundowns chairman Tlhopane 'Tlhopie' Motsepe and expressed relief that he continued working hard when he faced a barren spell in front of goal.
Shalulile scored 68 South African Premiership goals for Sundowns in six years and broke Siyabonga Nomvethe's Premier Soccer League (PSL) record last year (including cup competitions administered by the PSL), but equally impressive were his 20 CAF Champions League goals in 55 appearances -- including two in five in their title-winning 2025-26 campaign.
While Nomvethe's record was broken due to a mixture of Shalulile's goals for Sundowns and Highlands Park, his Champions League exploits came solely in a Sundowns shirt.
Iqraam Rayners -- and recently Brayan León and even Lebo Mothiba occasionally -- have often been preferred to Shalulile upfront. However, Cardoso hailed his professionalism at the beginning of the 2025-26 season.
"Peter is one of the examples that we have inside the club - the dedication that he has to his profession of being a football player. He trains very hard. He's an example for everybody. At the same time, he's one of all the other ones that are also very professional, also have qualities and also have levels," Cardoso said at a press conference.
"Peter is a reference for everybody inside the club."
Earlier, Sundowns vice-captain and Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams had given Shalulile a similar tribute in an interview with ESPN.
"There's not a day that Peter comes normal time. Peter is there two hours before. Peter is doing finishing training in the afternoon. Peter is doing training at night. Peter is waking up at 5'o clock, on the treadmill, on the bike.
"Just his desire to keep going and get better -- looking at clips of Ronaldo, looking at clips of other strikers as to how they finish -- the guy has achieved so much, but he is still hungry to achieve even more.
"I think rightfully, he deserves [the PSL goals record] because of the type of person he is. He's so positive. He just works hard, keeps quiet, doesn't complain. If he's in or out of the team, he's still the same Peter -- supporting the guys, always happy, dancing, singing.
"I can see why he's been so successful and I can see why he's still going to get so much success, because he doesn't change his core values when things are not going his way. Peter went through some tough moments when he was out injured for long, he wasn't scoring, he wasn't playing -- but then when he got that one goal [to bring back his momentum], he was still the same Peter."