Jeban Tembo is one of the safest pairs of hands in the Zambian football goalkeeping department if not now then in the very near future.
He was born as twin with Genius at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, on 31 January 2003 from Benson and Veronica Tembo.
Jeban grew up in Mtendere and went to George Town Private School in his Primary School. Away from studies, the only thing that kept him busy was drawing, something his father encouraged him to take seriously.
Everything changed when he moved to Kabulonga Boys Secondary where his interest in football was ignited. He started by participating in inter-classes football games, before joining his twin brother at Kabulonga Strikers football Academy.
Interestingly, Jeban started his football career as an infield player, where he played as a winger. The absence of the team’s only goalkeeper, made Jeban ask his Coach Lufalo Soko to allow him to put on the gloves and play as a goal defender whenever the goal minder was not around. This went on until he finally decided to permanently be a goalkeeper.
Kabulonga Strikers Academy only trained during school holidays as it mostly consisted of school-going boys, something that did not help him as one who wanted to take football as a career. So a friend advised him to join an amateur side, Blue Bullets Football Club managed by Coach Grace and Carol, of which he joined as a training partner with the hope of getting registered something that never came to pass.
After the disappointment, he started straining with the Lusaka City Council U19 as advised by another friend, Philip Malunga. However, he only trained for about a month before stopping due to challenges in finding money for transport as he was required to move from Mtendere to the UTH Kabwata area every day.
In 2015, he went back to Kabulonga, but this time around with a newly formed football academy, Kabulonga Super United. It is here where everything good about his football career took shape.
With his new team, he won the U19 tournament organized by Chiparamba Academy, a competition that saw teams like Chibolya, Misisi Academy, Muza and the hosts Chiparamba…
By Red Arrows Media
