{"id":47874,"date":"2026-01-19T16:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=47874"},"modified":"2026-01-19T16:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:32:41","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignzee-nxumalos-football-dream-fell-apart-but-music-led-her-to-a-puma-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/01\/19\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignzee-nxumalos-football-dream-fell-apart-but-music-led-her-to-a-puma-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Zee Nxumalo\u2019s football dream fell apart, but music led her to a Puma deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\">&#13;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_188673\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-188673\" class=\"wp-image-188673 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Zee-Nxumalos-football-dream-fell-apart-but-music-led-her.jpg?resize=600%2C402&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Zee-Nxumalos-football-dream-fell-apart-but-music-led-her.jpg 600w, https:\/\/fakazanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Zee-Nxumalo-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-188673\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zee Nxumalo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>South African singer Zee Nxumalo has joined the trending 2016 challenge, using the viral throwback moment to reflect on how far she has come and the dreams she has turned into reality.<\/p>\n<p>Taking to social media, the rising star shared a heartfelt post comparing her aspirations from a decade ago to where she stands today.<\/p>\n<p>In her caption, Zee revealed that she once dreamed of becoming a professional footballer and landing a deal with global sports brand Puma.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to 2026, and while her career path took a different turn, the dream of working with the iconic brand still came true.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c#2016challenge. An aspiring footballer who dreamt of a Puma deal. Fast forward 2026. I got the deal, just a musician though\ud83e\udd0d,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The post struck a chord with fans, many of whom praised the singer for her honesty and resilience, noting how dreams can evolve without losing their meaning.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters flooded her comments section with congratulatory messages, applauding her for staying focused and embracing the journey that led her to success in music.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DTqC0JOjVj3\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 4 -->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Zee #Nxumalos #football #dream #fell #music #led #Puma #deal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; Zee Nxumalo South African singer Zee Nxumalo has joined the trending 2016 challenge, using the viral throwback moment to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47876,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47874\/revisions\/47876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}