African Football Greats

Danish Superliga side FC Midtjylland head coach Bo Henriksen said he was impressed with Zambian winger Edward Chilufya’s debut for the club.

“It the first of many games to come for him. He did very well, good for a start. The last 18 minutes that he played clearer showed that he knows why he is here. He fits the plan.”

-Coach Bo Henriksen

The Chipolopolo winger made his long awaited debut for his new club Midtjylland football club in the Danish Superliga last night.

Chilufya who joined Midtjylland from swedish side Djurgarden football club in the previous transfer window , was introduced in the 73rd minute to play the last 18 minutes for his club side that recorded a 3-1 home win over Viborg FF in the Superliga.

He joined FC Midtjylland who are now second on the log standings in the Superliga with 39 points after an impressive season in Sweden where he scored 8 goals and provided three assists in 29 matches.

The former Zambia under-20 Africa cup of nations winner will now look to settle in the Danish league and continue with his scoring form for his new club.

Chilufya is also expected to be among the Zambian foreign based players that will play international friendly matches against South Africa and Guinea later this month in Paris , France ahead of the 2023 Africa cup of nations qualifiers.

Some members of the 2012 Zambia national team squad that won the Africa cup of nations have come out in the media demanding their dues for winning the prestigious trophy.

Some of the players include the then captain Christopher Katongo, defender Davies Nkausu , Noah Chivuta and goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene who have all alleged that they were not paid a dime from the prize money.

“We were not given the money. They just gave us allowances. We have not gotten anything for winning AFCON till now. Even the houses they promised us, they never gave us the houses.”

-Christopher Katongo

But former vice president of the football association of Zambia Boniface Mwamelo rubbished the claims by the former chipolopolo players and said they were paid.

“The players were paid. The Prize money came after we had comeback so what we did was , we got their Bank details and the money from the prize money was given to them via bank transfers”

-Boniface Mwamelo

And in response to the former FA vice president , Goal keeper Kennedy Mweene has challenged the Veep to produce bank statements showing that the money was transferred to their bank accounts because they didn’t receive any money.

Meanwhile, Zambia’s minister of sports Elvis Nkandu reviewed to the media the government owes the players a sum of about K44 million Kwacha it pledged to reward the players for winning the historical trophy.

Nkandu who was recently appointed minister of sports by Zambia’s New president Hakainde Hichilema last year, further said the previous government did not fulfil the promises they made to the 2012 Afcon Victors and urged all institutions that are owing the players to pay them.

There has been social media reports suggesting that some members of the 2012 African cup of nations chipolopolo  winning team have said, they were not given some of their allowances for winning the tournament. 
Some of the players that who have beeFootball association of Zambia-FAZ has called for investigations into the alleged non payment of allowances to the players who won the Africa cup of nations in 2012.  

FAZ secretary general Adrian Kashala told S24 sports, a local TV station that that the current administration at the FA has no records of how the prize money or pledges that were made in 2012 were spent and called for investigations to be instituted to establish why the players were not paid their dues.  

Kashala also called out those who were at the helm of the football association then, to unveil necessary information on how the prize money was shared to help the current FA have answers to the questions being raised by members of the public and the players.

Questions remain unaswered as to  why the 2012 football heroes were not paid some of their allowances for winning Zambia’s afcon trophy which includes some of the pledges which were made by government and other organizations.

Zambian striker Patson Daka is this evening expected to feature for the Leicester city side that will face Liverpool in the English premier league tonight. 

Having scored in all his last three premier league outings with the foxes,  the Chipolopolo striker is expected to start for the city side  that suffered  defeat in their last match in the FA cup. 

Daka scored and assisted against Newcastle united and also  scored a goal each against Tottenham Hotspurs and Brighton in his last three premier league matches. 

He has so far  scored four goals and made three assists in his last nine premier league appearances. 

Daka will look to extend his goal tally tonight when the foxes face Liverpool. 

They waited for 57 years to finally win the prestigious Africa cup of nations   after two failed  attempts in 2002 and 2019.

The Teranga lions were crowned champions of Africa last night at the 2021 Cameroon afcon after beating Seven time champions Egypt 4-2 on penalty shootouts  following a goal less draw in regulation and extra time. 

Senegal dominated through the match without scoring a goal with a penalty missed by Sadio Mané in the 4th minute of play, Saliou Ciss having been brought down in the penalty area of ​​Egypt. Mané’s penalty was saved by shoots Egyptian goalkeeper Gabaski who emerged man of the match after making seven saves to deny senegal a goal in open play.

When Egypt conceded a penalty in the fourth minute, Mohamed Salah went up to his Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal alas Gabaski and was telling him where Sadio Mane would put the penalty kick.

Funny enough Mane who is also Salah’s teammate at Liverpool walked to the two and appeared to tell Gabaski where he was going to put the penalty kick and pointed to the right corner. Salah then tried to tell the goalkeeper something else as Mane walked away.

Moments later Mane smashed the penalty kick straight down the middle as Gabaski saved it.

However, despite missing a golden opportunity to put his country in the lead,Liverpool striker mané stepped up to take the winning penalty for his country. 

Mané was also named the player of the tournament while Eduard Mendy was named Goalkeeper of the tournament with Cameroon’s striker Vincent Aboubakar walking away with the  golden boot after finishing the tournament with eight goals to his name. \

Senegal who made their debut at the Africa cup of nations  in 1965 have finally won their first ever Afcon trophy to become the 15th country to win the tournament.

They also became the first African country to win afcon all their players in their squad based in Europe.

After making their debut at the Africa cup of nations in 1965 Senegal has come close to winning the trophy twice but all failed attempts.

The highest FIFA ranked national team in Africa has never won the prestigious Africa cup of nations, having lost twice in the final in 2002 and 2019.

The Diofu generation failed, the Demba Ba generation failed but can the Sadio mane generation break this curse?

Can the finally end their 57-years Afcon wait?

The Teranga lions have arguably the most quality players and Africa’s most valuable squad with their players dotted across europe’s top leagues. They have reached the final with a squad of players all based in Europe.

They came into the 2021 Afcon edition as favourites and despite having a sloppy start in the group stage where they topped the group with only one goal scored from the spot kick, they proved critics wrong and squized their way to the final for the second consecutive time.

Their best match in the tournament was in the semi finals when they condemned Burkina Faso to a humiliating 3-1 defeat to book a place in the final .

The Teranga lions would look to win the Africa cup for the first time in their football history when they face Mohammed salah ‘s Egypt that made it to the final despite being low ranked by pundits at the beginning of the tournament.

Egypt have won the Africa cup a record seven times will aim to win their eighth title tonight.

The Pharoas beat some of the tournament favourites, Cameroon, Morocco and Ivory coast all on penalty shootouts to set up a date with the West Africans in the Final.

A win for Egypt will mean an extension of their record as all time African champions and on the other hand, it would be the first time in history that a country has failed to win Afcon on three attempts in the final if Senegal lose.

Cameroonian captain Vincent Aboubakar scored a brace for the Indomitable lions to help his team come from 3-1 down to equalize and force the match to be decided on penalty shootouts against Burkina Faso in the third place playoffs.

Aboubakar put up a very impressive performance after finding the back of net twice to move his goal tally to 8 goals in the 33rd edition of the Africa cup of nations.

With his eight goals in the competition , Aboubakar become the first player in 48 years to score that number of goals at afcon since Congolese striker Ndaye Mulamba scored nine goals in the 1974 edition.

Ndaye who captained Congo at the world cup and 1974 Afcon scored nine goals to win the golden boot and the trophy for his country.

Having scored his seventh and eighth goal on Saturday night in the third place playoffs, Aboubakar has now gone down in the Afcon history books as the second most highest goal scorer in a single tournament.

Not only did he score twice to near Mulamba’s record, Aboubakar also helped his country walk out the tournament with a consolation win.

Cameroon came from behind to beat Burkina Faso and win the bronze medal in a very dramatic and unexpected way.

Burkina was leading 3-1 but with only seven minutes remaining on the clock , Aboubakar scored twice for the Indomitable lions to force the match into being decided on penalty shootouts which ended in favor of the hosts who won by 5-3.

Zambian midfielder Enock Mwepu has been declared fit  ahead of Brighton and Hove Albion football club’s FA cup match against Tottehnham hotspurs today.  

Mwepu returned to full training yesterday with his club after being out of action for two weeks following a groin injury. The chipolopolo midfielder trained  with his team mate after being declared fit , the club confirmed. 

Mwepu has so far made 14 competitive appearances  across all competitions for the Albion side in which he has scored two goals and provided  five  assists. 

The computer as he is widely known by his fans, has scored on goal in the premier when Brighton first Liverpool in the first half of the season. He scored a stunner from outside the 18 yard at anfiied stadium- his dream club’s home.

Mwepu has also scored one goal in the FA cup and will hope to find himself on the score sheet again tonight and help his Albion side advance from the knock out stage.

He expected to make his second appearance in the FA cup for the Albion side tonight and his first match since January.

Hosts Cameroon and Burkina Faso will this evening clash for the bronze medal at the Africa cup of nations. 

Earlier in the competition , Burkina Faso suffered defeat in the group stage to Cameroon after they were beaten on 2-1 through a Vincent Aboubakar brace from the spot kick.

Meanwhile, Cameroon also lost to Egypt on post match penalties to miss out on a place in the final while Burkina Faso was beaten by Senegal in the semi final. 

Cameroon who are the five times  champions and second all time afcon winners  having won the trophy five times will look to finish  third for the second time in the history of the  tournament. 

On the other  hand Burkina Faso who were runners up  in 2013  when they lost to Nigeria and bronze medalist at their last appearance in the competition in 2017 will aim to seek revenge against the Indomitable lions who beat them  2-1 earlier in the group stage of the tournament. 

The match is set to kick off at 21:00hrs central African time at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaoundé. 

Zambian top referee Janny Sikazwe has come under fire from Tunisian officials who are protesting his officiating in a match they have lost to Mali by a goal to nil at the ongoing Africa cup of nations.

Janny Sikazwe a FIFA acclaimed referee gave away two penalties (one for Mali which they scored and another one for Tunisia which they missed) and a red card .

In the 86th minute, Sikazwe blew the whistle for full-time even though several minutes were remaining. He later rescinded his decision and signaled for play to continue.

With 89 minutes and 47 seconds gone, according to the clock on the TV screen. Tunisia’s manager and backroom staff run on to the pitch to demand an explanation as Sikazwe again blew the whistle for full time.

The Tunisian officials angrily pointed at their watches in a quest to correct Sikazwe for what looked like a wrong decision but all in vain .

It was a bizarre conclusion of the match as Sikazwe and his assistants were surrounded by stewards for their protection and then ushered off the pitch.

Mali grabbed maximum three points and Sikazwe will have to explain himself as controversy continues at the stadium.

Janny Sikazwe is one of Africa’s top referees that have even gone all the to officiate at the FIFA world cup knock out stage.

The football association of Zambia(FAZ) says its ready to replace Zimbabwe at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in case the Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) bans them with just a few days to the start of the competition..

Fifa had threatened to impose a ban on the Southern African country due to government interference in the running of the country’s football. and ordered that the elected Zimbabwe FA members regain control of the football by January 3.

But that has not been the case as the Zimbabwean FA till no have not been handed back the power to control football in that country.

Positioning themselves for a possible replacement of Zimbabwe at the AFCON which is set to start this Sunday, the Zambian FA through its spokesperson Sydney Mungala have expressed their readiness to replace the warriors at the African football showpiece.

“We have followed keenly the development in Zimbabwe and have always remained open to being part of the Nations Cup if Zimbabwe is banned,” Sidney Mungala, the Zambian FA’s media officer was quoted by BBC Sport Africa.

“Given the length of the time, before the tournament kicks off, we would have hoped that this matter would have been resolved by now.”

The Chipolopolo – who were champions of the 2012 edition hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon –  failed to qualify for the biennial African football showpiece as they finished third in a group that paraded Algeria and the Zimbabwean senior national team.