Clifford Mulenga (born 5 August 1987) is a Zambian professional

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 ...

who plays as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Forest Rangers F.C.

Career

Mulenga was born in

Kabompo Kabompo is a town in north-western Zambia, lying on the Kabompo River with a population over 88,000 people. It is surrounded by teak forest and is home to a Roman Catholic Mission (Christian), mission. Its most significant activity is the producti ...

, Zambia. was part of the

Zambian Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are th ...

2006 African Nations Cup The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt won ...

team who finished third in group C in the first round of competition, thus failing to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. Mulenga is known to be a quick and creative winger whose qualities have been praised as rare and akin to Zambian great

Kalusha Bwalya Kalusha Bwalya (born 16 August 1963) is a Zambian former international association football, footballer. He is Zambia national football team, Zambia's Zambia national football team#Most capped players, eighth-most Cap (sport), capped player and t ...

. When playing for the Zambian U-20s he caught the eye of several European clubs most notably Spanish giants

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

. His silky skills were demonstrated especially against the Nigerian U-20s at the African Youth Championships when his team lost in the semi-finals, a game which saw him give a man of the match performance only to be blighted by receiving a red card as a result of a petulant altercation with one of his opponents. Prior to the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations a dispute arose as to which club Mulenga belonged to

University of Pretoria F.C. University of Pretoria Football Club, also known as Tuks FC, is a South African association football club based in the Hatfield suburb of Pretoria that represents the University of Pretoria. They currently play in the National First Division. Hi ...

claimed he was on their books however he caused controversy with the Zambian press when the nation's football authority FAZ, announced he was to join Israeli side

Maccabi Petah Tikva Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, מכבי פתח תקווה) (Full name: "Maccabi Avshalom Ironi Petah Tikva F.C., ) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. It is part of the Maccabi World Union for international Jewish spo ...

from

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. H ...

the Swedish side which acquired him on loan from the University of Pretoria. On 2 February 2008, Mulenga was named The 2007 Glo-CAF Young Player of the Year beating off competition from Congo Brazzaville’s

Franchel Ibara Franchel Ibara (born 27 July 1989) is a Congolese former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Ibara was born in Brazzaville, Congo. He played for Étoile du Congo before moving to FC Sochaux. After one year in France, ...

and Nigeria’s Oseni Gani both of whom have been touted as future African stars. The deal with Maccabi Petach Tikva fell through and he signed for Premier Soccer league team

Bidvest Wits Bidvest Wits Football Club, (simply often known as Wits University F.C. or Wits) was a South African professional football club from Johannesburg which played in the Premier Soccer League the first-tier of South African league football system. ...

. In July 2009 he was trial by Maccabi Petach Tikva again but the club decided to not sign him. He consequently signed for the

Mpumalanga Black Aces Black Aces were a South African football club that played in the Premier Soccer League. Aces usually played their home games in the Mpumalanga province but were based and trained in Johannesburg. History The original club was founded in 1937 by ...

. He has also played for

Bloemfontein Celtic Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club (simply known as Celtic) is a South African amateur football club based in Bloemfontein that competes in the ABC Motsepe League, the third tier of the South African football league system. Bloemfontein Celtic has ...

and

SuperSport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the Dstv Premiership. United is known as ''Matsats ...

. Mulenga returned Mpumalanga Black Aces in September 2013 on a three-year contract. In August 2014, he signs a contract with

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and m ...

for one season.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Zambia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Zambia *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Individual * Glo-CAF Young Player of the Year: 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mulenga, Clifford Living people 1987 births People from Kabompo District Association football midfielders Zambian footballers Zambia international footballers Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Allsvenskan players University of Pretoria F.C. players Örgryte IS players Bidvest Wits F.C. players Thanda Royal Zulu F.C. players Bloemfontein Celtic F.C. players SuperSport United F.C. players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players ZESCO United F.C. players Moroka Swallows F.C. players Mbombela United F.C. players Zambian expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Zambian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate footballers in Sweden Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden