Sports / Soccer
5 Top Zambian Footballers
24 May 2018 at 07:12hrs | Views
The Football Association of Zambia manages football in the country. Casino online gamblers enjoy betting on Zambian football because it's full of surprises. Some Zambian footballers prefer to stay and play in their native country both in inner-Zambian competitions and in competitions with other African nations. Zambia won the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations and is usually a favored contender in inner-African matches.
Some of the top Zambian football stars include:
Nyambe Mulenga
Defender Nyambe Muleng hales from Chingola, a city in Zambia's Copperbelt Province. He played for the ZESCO United F.C. for 7 years and then moved to the Power Dynamos F.C. Muleng played for the Zambian U-20 which reached the 2007 quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup that was played in Canada.
Mulenga's leg was broken in a 2014 car accident and he was forced to retire in 2017. Retirement has been hard for Mulenga who said "I have been missing playing. I have been missing playing since I sustained the injury. I want to play but there is nothing I can do."
James Chamanga
James Chamanga has played as a striker and a centre-forward for numerous teams including Lusaka F.C., Makumbi Stars, the Bush Bucks and Moroka Swallows. Presently he plays for Liaoning Whowin of the China League One as well as for Zambia's national team.
Chamanga played in the COSAFA Cup semifinal against South Africa where he scored his first international goal. In 2006 he moved to Supersport United where he held the position as the team's top goalscorer.
Chamanga played for the Zambian 2006 Africa Nations Cup which finished third in group C in the competition's first round. When he played against Sudan in the 2008 African Nations Cup he scored the first goal and again in the 2006 African National Cup against Tunisia.
Chamanga is probably best known for scoring five goals when the Swallows played Platinum Stars in 2007 – a record number of goals. This included a hat-trick between the 20th and the 24th minute.
After Chamanga scored 14 goals in 2008 in the ABSA premier League for the Swallows he moved to the Chinese Super League. It's been a successful move for Chamanga in the Dalian Shide club where he has scored 14 goals in the 2016 Chinese Super League matches and tied second on the scorers' ranking table. Liaoning Whowin resigned Chamanga this year.
Jeffrey "Jeff" Whitley
Jeff Whitley is a native Zambian but he grew up in Manchester and started playing in the Man City Youth Scheme when he was only 10 years old. He became a Manchester trainee in 1996 and then moved on to Wrexham and after that to Notts County. When he moved to Sunderland he helped the team achieve a Football League Championship play-off berth and a Football League Championship spot.
Whitley moved to Cardiff City and then returned to Wrexham where he scored the winning goal against the Bristol Rovers before moving to Northwich Victoria in March of 2009.
Perhaps Whitley is more recognized for his post-professional football career than the actual on-field play. He retired in 2010 and ran a car dealership for several years but simultaneously he worked to attain a UEFA B license so that he could coach underpriviledged youth at a development center that's linked with League Two club Morecambe.
"I moved from Wrexham to Whalley Range when I was 11 so I can let the lads know I've been through what they're going through." Whitley said, "Two of them are from Gorton. I asked them what they want to achieve and they just said ‘to get out of the ghetto'."
Whitley doesn't miss his days on the field because he feels that he's able to achieve something more important. "I know what it's like at their age. I sold drugs, I smoked weed. It's not big and it's not clever, but you do those things to fit in, to be accepted. Your friends get sucked in then it's difficult for you not to get sucked in too. We want friends to stick together but to push each other on in the right way. That's really important for us – and I've told the lads that if I can do it, so can they."
Fashion Sakala
There are dozens of Zambian football players in leagues throughout the world including in Belgium, Israel, the UK, Sweden and Thailand. Most play for South Africa but there are presently 4 Zambians playing in Russia, among them Fashion Saka who plays for FC Spartak-2 in Moscow.
Sakala was born in Chipata, Zambia and was recruited to play for Spartak-2 while still in his teens. The right attacker is gaining notice among international observers who see his goal of achieving the top scorer prize as attainable after scoring 7 goals for his team before the 2018 season's half-way mark.
Emanuel Mayuka
Emanuel Mayuka started his football career in Zambia but has seen significant success as an international football star, most recently in Israel. Mayuka started playing at the Lusaka Academy when he was eleven years old and joined the Kabwe Warriors while still a teen. He flourished and was recruited to the Zambian under-17 national team.
For the majority of his international career he played in Israel, first for Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv where he joined the youth team and then for the Swiss Club BSC Young Boys. Fans remember him for scoring 2 goals in the Europa league against Stuttgart which helped propel them to a 4-2 win.
Mayuka also played for Southhampton and Ligue 1 side, FC Metz of ligue 2 and Zamalek of Egypt but returned to Israel to play for HaPoel Rananna where he presently stars.
Some of the top Zambian football stars include:
Nyambe Mulenga
Defender Nyambe Muleng hales from Chingola, a city in Zambia's Copperbelt Province. He played for the ZESCO United F.C. for 7 years and then moved to the Power Dynamos F.C. Muleng played for the Zambian U-20 which reached the 2007 quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup that was played in Canada.
Mulenga's leg was broken in a 2014 car accident and he was forced to retire in 2017. Retirement has been hard for Mulenga who said "I have been missing playing. I have been missing playing since I sustained the injury. I want to play but there is nothing I can do."
James Chamanga
James Chamanga has played as a striker and a centre-forward for numerous teams including Lusaka F.C., Makumbi Stars, the Bush Bucks and Moroka Swallows. Presently he plays for Liaoning Whowin of the China League One as well as for Zambia's national team.
Chamanga played in the COSAFA Cup semifinal against South Africa where he scored his first international goal. In 2006 he moved to Supersport United where he held the position as the team's top goalscorer.
Chamanga played for the Zambian 2006 Africa Nations Cup which finished third in group C in the competition's first round. When he played against Sudan in the 2008 African Nations Cup he scored the first goal and again in the 2006 African National Cup against Tunisia.
Chamanga is probably best known for scoring five goals when the Swallows played Platinum Stars in 2007 – a record number of goals. This included a hat-trick between the 20th and the 24th minute.
After Chamanga scored 14 goals in 2008 in the ABSA premier League for the Swallows he moved to the Chinese Super League. It's been a successful move for Chamanga in the Dalian Shide club where he has scored 14 goals in the 2016 Chinese Super League matches and tied second on the scorers' ranking table. Liaoning Whowin resigned Chamanga this year.
Jeffrey "Jeff" Whitley
Jeff Whitley is a native Zambian but he grew up in Manchester and started playing in the Man City Youth Scheme when he was only 10 years old. He became a Manchester trainee in 1996 and then moved on to Wrexham and after that to Notts County. When he moved to Sunderland he helped the team achieve a Football League Championship play-off berth and a Football League Championship spot.
Whitley moved to Cardiff City and then returned to Wrexham where he scored the winning goal against the Bristol Rovers before moving to Northwich Victoria in March of 2009.
Perhaps Whitley is more recognized for his post-professional football career than the actual on-field play. He retired in 2010 and ran a car dealership for several years but simultaneously he worked to attain a UEFA B license so that he could coach underpriviledged youth at a development center that's linked with League Two club Morecambe.
"I moved from Wrexham to Whalley Range when I was 11 so I can let the lads know I've been through what they're going through." Whitley said, "Two of them are from Gorton. I asked them what they want to achieve and they just said ‘to get out of the ghetto'."
Whitley doesn't miss his days on the field because he feels that he's able to achieve something more important. "I know what it's like at their age. I sold drugs, I smoked weed. It's not big and it's not clever, but you do those things to fit in, to be accepted. Your friends get sucked in then it's difficult for you not to get sucked in too. We want friends to stick together but to push each other on in the right way. That's really important for us – and I've told the lads that if I can do it, so can they."
Fashion Sakala
There are dozens of Zambian football players in leagues throughout the world including in Belgium, Israel, the UK, Sweden and Thailand. Most play for South Africa but there are presently 4 Zambians playing in Russia, among them Fashion Saka who plays for FC Spartak-2 in Moscow.
Sakala was born in Chipata, Zambia and was recruited to play for Spartak-2 while still in his teens. The right attacker is gaining notice among international observers who see his goal of achieving the top scorer prize as attainable after scoring 7 goals for his team before the 2018 season's half-way mark.
Emanuel Mayuka
Emanuel Mayuka started his football career in Zambia but has seen significant success as an international football star, most recently in Israel. Mayuka started playing at the Lusaka Academy when he was eleven years old and joined the Kabwe Warriors while still a teen. He flourished and was recruited to the Zambian under-17 national team.
For the majority of his international career he played in Israel, first for Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv where he joined the youth team and then for the Swiss Club BSC Young Boys. Fans remember him for scoring 2 goals in the Europa league against Stuttgart which helped propel them to a 4-2 win.
Mayuka also played for Southhampton and Ligue 1 side, FC Metz of ligue 2 and Zamalek of Egypt but returned to Israel to play for HaPoel Rananna where he presently stars.
Source - Byo24News
