The Samuel ‘Zoom ‘ Ndhlovu Charity Shield

The Charity Shield is a match that marks the beginning of a new FAZ Football calendar and acts as a curtain-raiser.

Two participants are always scheduled to face off each other with one being the winner of the MTN Super League and the other picked as the winner of the ABSA cup, all from the previous season with proceeds of the match donated to charity, It was first played in 1967.

It was renamed the Samuel ‘Zoom’ Ndhlovu in 2003 to commemorate the football achievements of the late great Zambian footballer and coach, Samuel Ndhlovu.

SAMUEL NDHLOVU HISTORY

He was born on 27th September 1937 on the Copperbelt in the small mining town of luanshya and died on 10th October 2001.

He played his football at Mufulira Wanderers FC for almost two decades winning 5 Zambian league titles, 2 Charity Shields, 6 castle cups, 3 Zambia challenge cups, a Heinrich cup, 1 super castle cup, and champions of champions cup which all together add up to 21 decorated club honors with the team.

He made his international appearance for the nation under Northern Rhodesia in 1956. He went on to captain the national team between 1965 and 1967 winning 3 honors with the national team which is Rothermans international trophy, Heroes cup, and Uganda Independence cup.

He was first appointed Zambia national team coach in 1967 for the game against Kenya, at the age of 30 making him the youngest coach to take charge of the Zambia national team, and went on to win the match.

He guided Zambia to the Seoul Olympics games in South Korea in 1988 where they were paired in the same group with Italy, Venezuela, and Iraq. He defied the odds by making Zambia emerge group leaders by giving Italy and Venezuela 4-0 beatings only to be given the same scoreline by West Germany in the quarter-finals. He is widely regarded as the best local Zambia has ever had.

He also coached in Botswana with LCS Gunners where he won a league title aside from coaching Mufulira Wanderers his childhood team with which he won everything on the local scene.

THIS SEASON’S GAME

This year’s participants are record holders of the ABSA cup previously called Barclays cup who have won it 6 times and are 9 times FAZ super league champions, Zesco United FC, and the winners of the ABSA Cup, Lusaka Dynamos.

ZESCO United is the 4th most successful club in Zambia with 22 trophies. They have won 3 charity shields with the last coming in 2017 following a 2-0 win against Nkana to whom they lost to in the charity shield of 2019 season on penalty shoot-outs 5-4.

Lusaka Dynamos were founded by Hanif Adam in 1979 and won its second trophy since its inception when they defeated Zesco United 3-1 on post-match penalties in the 14th edition of ABSA cup staged at Woodlands Stadium with their first major trophy coming in 2008, The BP top 8 again edging ZESCO United 1-0.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

In the last five meetings in regulation time, ZESCO United has won 4 times, scoring 8 goals and only conceding once which came in the 1 nill defeat in the 2019 league game.

Numba Mumamba and Wedson Nyirenda have faced each other three times. In regulation time, Numba Mumamba the Zesco United coach has beaten Wedson Nyirenda twice with an impressive record of two clean-sheets and the last beating come on 23rd May via a 1-0 scoreline while the last meeting which was in the ABSA Cup ended nil-all in regulation time before Wedson Nyirenda side triumphed 3-1 on post-match penalties.

Numba Mumamba has been pegged at 67% of beating Wedson Nyirenda to the charity shield title but with Wedson Nyirenda sentiments of “if clubs need trophies, they know who to call” holding a lot of water some may rank him higher than his opponent as he has a good record in cup games.

THE GAFFERS

Wedson Nyirenda, 54, has won a plethora of titles with Zanaco, Zesco, and now Lusaka Dynamos, coupled with titles he won while working in Mozambique and South Africa.

Notably, the league titles he won with ZESCO United in 2007 and 2008, Zanaco FC in 2009, and the 2015 mocambola league title with clube ferroviario de Maputo FC in Mozambique.

He also made history in South Africa when he guided Baroka FC to the Telkom knockout in 2018 before helping Lusaka Dynamos to lift their second title, the 2020/2021 ABSA Cup.

Numba Mumamba, 43, became the head coach first for a top club after spending 6 years as an assistant coach, in 2015 Zanaco handed him the mantle following the departure of Aggrey Chiyangi.

He has three trophies to his name during his 6 years coaching tenure with two being league titles which he first won in 2016 with Zanaco before he repeated the feat with Zesco United in 2021 and he has one ABSA cup which he won with Zanaco in 2017.

With a distance of 316KM separating the two, Zesco United will make a long trip to the capital of Zambia the home of their opponents Lusaka Dynamos to lock horns for the charity shield bragging rights with the battle being staged at Woodlands Stadium, a neutral venue within the city of Lusaka.

With the tempers being high and grudges thanks to that ABSA Cup final, the encounter promises to be a mouth-watering one but Zesco has a better chance of topping Lusaka Dynamos on paper but football is played on the pitch.

The match will be played on 28th August to officially open the Zambian football season with the first week fixtures of the MTN Super League slated for 11th September after the international break.