Esrom Nyandoro (born 6 February 1980 in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

) is a former

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

midfielder 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 ...

. In his native Zimbabwe, Nyandoro is nicknamed "Yellowman".

Club career

Nyandoro grew up in Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo, and learnt at Mzilikazi High School. He was identified by soccer scouts whilst playing in the

Peter Ndlovu Peter Ndlovu (born 25 February 1973) is a Zimbabwean football coach and former professional player who was most recently the team manager at South African Premier Division side Mamelodi Sundowns. As a player he was as a striker from 1988 unti ...

invitational under 19 tournament, for Zimbabwe Saints Juniors, which was used to identify and promote talent. As a result of this he signed with

AmaZulu Zulu people (; zu, amaZulu) are a Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, with an estimated 10–12 million people, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal ...

, rising through the reserve ranks to being a member of the league championship winning squad. Nyandoro was then signed by South African club

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football l ...

in 2004 and was named the PSL Club Rookie of the Year after his debut season. In the summer of 2006, Nyandoro joined up with English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

for a trial. This was on the recommendation of Peter Ndlovu who had played for the club. Nyandoro was however not signed.

International career

Nyandoro was a member of the Zimbabwean

2004 African Nations Cup The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the NOKIA African Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004 for sponsorship reasons (also referred to as AFCON 2004 or CAN 2004) is the 24th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's footb ...

team, who finished bottom of their group in the first round of competition, thus failing to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. He scored a superb goal that was voted as the best goal of the tournament. He also participated at the

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 ...

External links

* * 1980 births Living people Zimbabwean footballers Zimbabwean expatriate footballers Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Zimbabwe men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Expatriate soccer players in South Africa 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players Footballers from Bulawayo Alumni of Mzilikazi High School {{Zimbabwe-footy-bio-stub