Born in June 1986 on the 3rd day of the month in a popular footballing compound, Chawama to be precisely located in the heart of Lusaka.
Mwape ‘Tozizi’ Mwelwa grew up playing ‘chimpombwa’ plastic ball as a child from which he realized his football potential and the dream was born.
His first amateur football team was Wounded Buffaloes who used to train and play from ZCBC ground whom he joined as his first amateur club. It was from this team he was scouted by Chiparamba academy who have produced many footballing greats such as Davies Nkausu. He joined the team in 2001 at the age of 15.
He spent three years at the club where he became a household name on the left flank of the midfield. While at chiparamba, Mwelwa traveled multiple times to Denmark and Sweden to participate in the Dana and Gothia cup with the former being of Denmark and the latter of Sweden.
They won the Dana cup of Denmark for three consecutive years from 2001 to 2003 but failed to win the Gothia cup of Sweden with the semi-final berth been the furthest they reached.
The Dana cup comprised teams from all over the world such as River Plate of Argentina, Santos of Brazil, Afri sport of kitwe, Zambia which had players like Rainford Kalaba and Jacob Mulenga.
In his debut appearance at Dana cup in Denmark in 2001 a tournament which they won, he emerged as one of the best players and remained for summerprofs/summer camps organized by Orgrte a Swedish club.
His football exploits at Chiparamba academy proved too good for National Assembly to ignore and they came calling for his signature in 2004. The time he was joining the law-makers, they were playing in the FAZ Super League. He played for them for three seasons after which the City of Lusaka started eyeing him with the National Assembly being reluctant to let their prized asset leave the club, the two clubs only agreed to a loan move.
He moved to Woodlands stadium in the second round of the 2007 FAZ Super League season. He spent six months with the City of Lusaka after which he was recalled back to Edwin Imboela when his team National Assembly got demoted to division one south a FAZ second tier by then.
He played with National Assembly in the lower doldrums for two seasons before they got promoted in 2009 back to the Super League. He played for the law-makers just for a single season after securing promotion before he switched for Nkoloma stadium to join Red Arrows who by then were under the tutelage of Mathews Phiri.
He played for Red Arrows for three seasons earning a lot of praise from fans and pundits due to his good passing techniques and the applauds that reached and touched the heart of Zesco united who poached him in 2013.
Tozizi as he is famously known has won five Super League titles, two Barclays cups, one ABSA cup and two charity shields all with Zesco United. He has also participated in the CAF champions league and confederation cup on multiple occasions.
He has also played for three Zambia national teams. He made his junior debut with an under 17 side under Simata Simata in 2002 during AFCON qualifiers and went on to play for Peter Kaumba coached under 23 side in 2007 during Olympic qualifiers.
His senior national team call-up came in 2015 under the guidance of George Lwandamina during CHAN qualifiers where he played and made sure Zambia qualify for the tournament. He was also part of the traveling contingent and playing squad for the 2016 tournament which comprised notable names like Christopher Katonga, Isaac Chansa, and Clatous Chota Chama aka Triple C. It was a formidable side that didn’t concede any goal during the four matches they played from the group stage to the quarterfinals. They were eliminated by Guinea on post-match penalties 5-4 when the game ended nil-all in regulation time.
The ZamFoot caught up with him at his base in Ndola to discuss his career. The humble and soft-spoken Mwape Mwelwa was asked a few questions including where the name Tozizi came from.
“When I was young, I used to like the sound of the name Riadh Bouazizi a Tunisian central midfielder so a friend of mine twisted to Tozizi so that’s how everyone started calling me Tozizi and this is how the name has remained”
Tozizi has played at the top level for 16 years when asked about his best football moment. Mwape was quick to point out the 2016 CAF champion league season where his team Zesco United reached the semi-finals after coming out second in group A where they only lost once to Wydad Athletic club Casablanca OF Morocco whom they finished second to with nine points three more ahead of third-placed Al Ahly of Egypt. In the semi-finals, they were booted out by Mamelodi Sundowns 4-3 on aggregate and the PSL side went on to be crowned champions.
“I can say 2016 to be my best football moment when we reached the semi-final of CAF champions league, we were so close to winning it and we had hope that if we reach the finals we will bring it home,” he said.
Mwape ‘TOZIZI’ Mwelwa has been a faithful servant of Bola Yapa Zed and is still active and on the books of Ndola giants Zesco United.
Great writing 💪 and what a great player he has been