Ashious Jordan Melu (6 June 1957 – 20 January 1997), also known as Ashios (or Ashols Melu), was a Zambian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and coach. Melu captained the Zambia national team from 1988 to 1992.

Playing career

Melu was born in Chililabombwe on June 6, 1957, and attended ''Chililabombwe Secondary School.'' He began playing for the Konkola Blades before moving to

Mufulira Wanderers Mufulira Wanderers are Zambia's most successful football club, based in the Copperbelt town of Mufulira and currently playing in the Zambia National Division One after their 2019/2020 season relegation. Popularly known as Mighty Mufulira Wan ...

in the late 1970s. Melu played as a striker and was the top

goal scorer In some team sports, an attacker is a specific type of player, usually involved in aggressive play. Heavy attackers are, usually, placed up front: their goal is to score the most possible points for the team. In association football, attackers a ...

in the Zambian league in 1983, scoring 43 goals, and winning the ''Zambian Footballer of the Year'' award. Alongside Efford Chabala, Kalusha Bwalya, Frederick Kashimoto, Evans Katebe and the Philemon brothers ( Philemon Mulala and

Philemon Kaunda Philemon Kaunda was a Zambian footballer who featured for Mufulira Wanderers in the early '80s and also played for Zambia as a central defender. His younger brother Philemon Mulala also played for both Wanderers and Zambia in the same period. K ...

), and later Charles Musonda,

Johnson Bwalya Johnson Bwalya (born 3 December 1967) is a Zambian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent most of his career in Switzerland while representing the Zambia national team internationally. With Zambia, he participated at ...

and Gibby Mbasela, Melu was part of Wanderers team, which was successful in cup competitions in the 1980s, though they never won the league championship. At the beginning of the 1986 football season, Melu changed positions to a defender. Melu represented Zambia at the African Cup of Nations in 1986, in which Zambia was eliminated in the first round. In 1987, Melu won his second Footballer of the Year award. Notably, several other teammates had won the award, such as Kalusha Bwalya (1984) and

(1986). Efford Chabala missed out on the award but won the Sportsman of the Year trophy in 1985. In 1988, Melu took over as Zambian captain when

Fighton Simukonda Fighton Simukonda (2 February 1958 – 15 February 2016) was a Zambian coach and former footballer. A defender, was part of the Nkana Red Devils side of the 1980s, winning five league titles, and he also captained Zambia. As a coach, he won se ...

was dropped after the

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tournament in June in

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. Later in the year, Melu led the team to the Seoul Olympic games, in which Zambia became the first African country to reach the quarterfinals. In doing so, Zambia defeated

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

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along the way with 4-0 scorelines, and lost to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

by the same margin. From 1989 to 90, Melu played five matches for the top division, Greek side Apollon Kalamarias. Melu later played for an Austrian club for a year before returning to feature for Zambia at the Africa Cup of Nations in 1992 for his final appearance for Zambia. As a result, Melu was not part of the team that perished in the Gabon plane crash disaster the following year.

Coaching career

In 1992, Melu turned to coaching and was first appointed

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultima ...

at the Wanderers, before taking over as head coach. In 1994, he was named Zambia national team assistant coach to

Roald Poulsen Roald Poulsen (born 28 November 1950) is a Danish association football manager, who most prominently won the 1989 Danish championship with Odense BK and managed the Zambia national football team. Poulsen started his coaching career with amateur ...

. He then led the Wanderers to back-to-back league championships in 1995 and 1996, achieving what he did not as a player - giving the Wanderers their first league success since 1978. Before the beginning of the 1997 season, Melu fell ill and died in early 1997.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Melu, Ashious 1957 births 1997 deaths People from Chililabombwe District Zambian men's footballers Zambia men's international footballers Zambian expatriate men's footballers Olympic footballers for Zambia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics 1982 African Cup of Nations players 1986 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players Mufulira Wanderers F.C. players Apollon Pontou F.C. players Super League Greece players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Men's association football forwards