Leeds United team up with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation sports agency and celebrate so with diverse club mural

Leeds have teamed up with leading agency Roc Nation – and marked the new partnership with a mural honouring the club’s diverse history.

Situated in the heart of Leeds, the street art has been painted by famed artist Akse P19 in celebration of the new collaboration.

The mural features club legends Albert Johanneson and Lucas Radebe and current midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

Johanneson was the first high profile black player to represent Leeds and the first player of African heritage to play in an FA Cup final in 1965.

The South African winger made nearly 200 appearances for the club between 1961 and 1970.

Yvonne, the Leeds legend’s oldest daughter, said: ‘On behalf of the Johanneson family, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Leeds United Football Club and Roc Nation for its decision to include my father, Albert Johanneson, as a face in its efforts to openly acknowledge and celebrate the indelible mark that people of colour have made toward the club’s successes, both historically and in the present.

‘As an aspiring 21-year-old football player, Albert left the poverty of apartheid South Africa in the 1960s for a trial position with Leeds United, eventually becoming a part of the first team under the helm of legendary coach, Don Revie, and excelling enough in his craft to become the first African to play in the esteemed FA Cup Final.

‘We continually see his accomplishments with LUFC, and its wider significance to the game of football as a whole, as a source of great pride.’

Radebe, who is widely recognised as one of the club’s greatest players of the Premier League era, was a South Africa international.

Phillips is one of the current stars of Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side and has broken into Gareth Southgate’s England squad, but the midfielder is known to be immensely proud of his Jamaican heritage.

This special piece of art marks the new link-up between Leeds and Roc Nation, and will see the leading music and sports agency support the growth of the Premier League club brand in key markets of the USA and Asia.

Angus Kinnear, Leeds chief executive, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Roc Nation, one of the world’s leading music and sports management agencies, to the Leeds United family.

‘Our aim is to grow our fan base across all territories that Premier League football touches and Roc Nation’s unique profile and relationships will allow us to do so in areas such as the USA and the Far East.’