Emmanuel Mbola (born 10 May 1993), 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 for

Nkana Nkana is a section of the city of Kitwe, Copperbelt Province, Zambia which started off in the early part of the 20th century as a railway station to support the growing complex of copper mining operations. It was named after Chief Nkana, the loc ...

. He is left-footed, and plays primarily at left-back. Between 2008 and 2016, he made 54 appearances for the Zambian national team.

Club career

Born in

Kabwe Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province and the Kabwe District, with a population estimated at 202,914 at the 2010 census. Named Broken Hill until 1966, it was founded when lead and zinc deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also ...

Mbola began his career 2007 with Zambian club Mining Rangers and in 2008 joined another Zambian club Zanaco. In January 2009 he was scouted by Armenian club

Pyunik Yerevan Football Club Pyunik Yerevan ( hy, Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Փյունիկ Երևան, Futbolayin Akumb P’yunik Yerevan), commonly known as Pyunik ("Phoenix"), is an Armenian professional sports club based in the Kentron neighbourhoo ...

and joined them. He became the first Zambian to feature in the

Uefa Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, representing his new club in a 0–0 draw v

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

on 14 July 2009. Linked in February 2010 with a move to English club Tottenham Hotspur and having been on trial at Arsenal in autumn 2010 he was involved in an ongoing transfer saga over his move to

and a subsequent move to a Congolese club,

TP Mazembe Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional football club based in Lubumbashi. History Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a value of at least $10 ...

. This was resolved in September 2010 when

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

ruled that the Armenian club had been wrong in arranging for Mbola to sign a professional contract when he was underage, which resulted in FIFA canceling the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) held by the Armenian club. This ruling meant that Mbola could officially join TP Mazembe. He signed a one-year loan deal with Portuguese side

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in February 2012. On 2 September 2013, Mbola signed for

Israel Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

side

Hapoel Ra'anana A.F.C. Hapoel Ra'anana Association Football Club ( he, עמותת הפועל רעננה מחלקת כדורגל, ''Amutat Hapoel Ra'anana Mahleket Kaduregel'') is an Israeli association football, football club based in the city of Ra'anana. They curren ...

International career

He is also a member of Zambian national team, having participated in 26 international matches since his debut in 2008 and is considered one of the most promising talents in Zambian and African football. Mbola is the second youngest player to have played a match in the

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 ...

Achievements

Armenian Cup The VBET Armenian Cup ( hy, Հայաստանի Անկախության Գավաթ) is the main football cup competition of Armenia. In its original form as the Armenian Cup, it started in 1939, when Armenia was a republic of the Soviet Union. It s ...

with

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Armenian Premier League The Armenian Premier League ( hy, VBET Հայաստանի Պրեմիեր Լիգա, known as the VBET Armenian Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the top association football, football competition in Armenia. From 1936 to 1991, the compet ...

with

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mbola, Emmanuel 1993 births Living people Zambian footballers Zambia men's international footballers Zambian expatriate footballers Men's association football fullbacks Zanaco F.C. players FC Pyunik players TP Mazembe players FC Porto players Hapoel Ra'anana A.F.C. players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Nkana F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Armenia Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Israel Expatriate footballers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Armenia Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Zambian expatriate sportspeople in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Armenian Premier League players Israeli Premier League players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players People from Kabwe District Zambia men's A' international footballers 2009 African Nations Championship players