Zambian players abroad posted mixed results with many being involved in draws. Evans Kangwa was involved in a goal while Fashion Sakala and his team mates suffered a humiliating loss.
South Africa
Salulani Phiri played 88 minutes for his Polokwane City side that suffered a two nil loss at the hands of Platinum Stars.
Kennedy Mweene was an unused substitute for Mamelodi Sundowns who beat Baroka 2-1 . Lewis Macha was left out of the team.
Rodrick Kabwe of Ajax Cape Town and the Orlando Pirates duo of striker Justin Shonga and Augustine Mulenga had an off weekend.
DR Congo
There was no action for TP Mazembe trio Rainford Kalaba, Kabaso Chongo and Nathan Sinkala as they had a weeekend off.
Mozambique
Striker Lineker Mwikisa and midfielder Thomas Nyirenda played in Ferreviaro de Beira’s three nil win over ENH Vilankulo
Morocco
Donashano Malama and his Olympique Khouribga side suffered a 5-2 loss at the hands of Wydad Casablanca.
Austria
Striker Patson Daka played 88 minutes for FC Liefering who beat Wiener Neustadt by two goals to nil courtesy of Schmid and Meister.
Midfield ace Enock Mwepu played the last fourteen minutes for Redbull Salzburg who suffered a one nil loss at the hands of Lask Linz. The former Napsa stars midfielder came on in the 76th minute to replace Malian midfielder Amadou Haidara.
Armenia
Winger Lubambo Musonda put in a 75 minute shift for Gandzaar Kapan who suffered a two one away loss to Pyunik.
Belgium,
Emmanuel Banda played the first 61 minutes for KV Oostende who were held to a one all draw with AS Eupen in a Uefa Europa play off match.
China, Striker James Chamanga played the full ninety minute shift for his Liaoning Kiaxin side who were handed a 2-1 defeat by Qingdao Huanghai.
Israel,
Striker Emmanuel Mayuka played the last 17 minutes for Hapoel Rana’ana who drew 1-1 with Hapoel Acre.
Portugal,
Striker Moses Phiri was an unused substitute for Sporting de Colviha who beat Varzim by two goals to nil.
Saudi Arabia
Former Zanaco forward Saith Sakala put in a 59 minute shift for his Al Fateh side that drew one all with Al Nassr.
Sweden
Edward Chilufya was an unused substitute for Djurgadens IF who played out to a one all draw with Trelleborg.
Russia
Striker Evans Kangwa assisted the first goal for Arsenal Tula scored by Gorbatenko in their two one win over Ufa.
The former Nkana striker put in a 75 minute shift while defender Stopilla Sunzu played the full ninety minutes.
In the FONBET league, Fashion Sakala played 59 minutes for Spartak Moskva II who suffered a humiliating five goals to one defeat at the hands of Krylya Sovetov.
USA,
Left back Prosper Chiluya put in a full ninety minute shift for his USL side Bethlehem Steel FC who drew 1-1 with
Charleston Battery.
UCAR Godfrey Chitalu
THE MONTH OF APRIL WILL ALWAYS BE A SAD ONE FOR ZAMBIAN FOOTBALL
THE LEGENDARY AFRICAN PLAYER HIT AN UNOFFICIAL RECORD FOR GOALS SCORED IN 1972
The true story of Chitalu, the Zambian who hit 107 goals
Just before midnight on the 27th of April 1993 the left engine of a Buffalo DHC-5D burst into flames just 500 metres off the coast of Gabon. Travelling in the old military aircraft, property of the Zambian government, was the national team of that country on its way to play a World Cup qualifier against Senegal for the USA 1994 tournament.
With the engine on fire the pilot tried to keep the plane in the air using just the right propeller. He didn’t manage it, the plane crashed and those aboard, 18 players, 2 trainers, 5 workers from the federation and 5 crew members were all killed.
The victims were heralded as heroes of the ‘Chipolopolos’ (a nickname given to the national team, literally meaning the ‘copper bullets’). Among them was the legendary Zambian footballer Godfrey Ucar Chitalu, who was coach of the team when the plane crashed.
This week the name of Chitalu was revived from the dead. Messi had just broken the record of goals in a calendar year, with 85 strikes… and suddenly the name of Chitalu was on everybody’s lips after it is said he had managed 107 goals in 1972.
This record is “not official”, according to the Zambian Football Federation and is therefore not recognised by FIFA, so the record of Messi stands. However the huge fuss made —especially on social media— deems it necessary to rescue the name of this legendary African footballer from a world of anonymity.
Ucar Chitalu is considered, alongside Computer Chitalu and Kalusha Bwalya, as the best player in Zambian history. So says the historian Jerry Muchimba, who has researched his story extensively and that incredible, mythical amount of 107 goals in one year. Muchimba went searching in the dusty records of Zambian newspapers to produce a detailed and concise report on Chitalu’s goals.
This exhaustive study does not conclusively prove the final number of goals scored by Chitalu, but it does help us to remember what was certainly an extraordinary feat. Chitalu made his debut for Warriors on the 23rd of January 1972 with two goals in the 2-2 draw with Majantja, in the African Champions Cup. From that moment he could not stop scoring in all the competitions he played in. By the end of October Chitalu had hit 92 strikes in the Zambian league, 57 more than the second highest scorer Bernard Chanda of the Wanderers.
In December in the League Cup against Copperbelt XI he finished with a hat-trick to make it 107 goals. “I have managed it thanks to the selfless help of my team mates “, was his dignified explanation for the almighty total. As a special award for his achievement he was presented with a yellow ball with the number of goals engraved on it by his sponsor Rothmans.
After retiring from the game a hero, Chitalu returned in the 80’s as coach of Kabwe Warriors. In 1990 when the Warriors was relegated from the First Division, Chitalu made sure no player left the club and brought it straight back up, with him named manager of the year.
That success brought him the job of Zambian team coach, and he managed five wins and a draw to get the side on route for the USA World Cup. That was until the fatal plane crash that brought to an end the amazing story of Chitalu and his glorious ‘Chipolopolos’.
As long as we were there it’s official ucar did it weather fifa likes it or not,they say that he was playing in a non proffetional league how about the seventeen year old Pele in Sweden world cup playing against men old enough to be his parents but these Europeans still say he is far much better than the cr7 and messi I still dont get if there ancient built the collosium its a maval but Egyptians pyramids its aliens.
Even years before messi scored his 90 something goals….i had already heard the heroics of ucar godfrey chitalu from my father who followed him closely since his kitwe united days. The initial figure i got actually was 117 goals.
My father says he was so powerful. He actually clenches his fists when describing how much of a dosser of man he might have been. I have also heard about Stoke City visiting Zambia for some games. One Peter Shilton stopped somebodies seemingly very hard shot with one hand at point blank range.