Junior Fashion Sakala (born 14 March 1997) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club Rangers and the Zambia national team. Sakala played for Zambian clubs

Nchanga Rangers Nchanga Rangers is a Zambian football club based in Chingola that plays in the MTN/FAZ Super Division. They play their home games at Nchanga Stadium in Chingola. The club is sponsored by Konkola Copper Mines. Achievements *Zambian Premier Leag ...

and Zanaco, winning the

Zambia Super League The Zambia Super League, known as the MTN Super League for sponsorship purposes, is the top association football league created in 1962 by the Football Association of Zambia. The winners of the league each season receives ZMW500,000 ($26,414.20) ...

in 2016 with the latter. He signed for

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

in February 2017. Sakala made no first-team appearances for the club, instead appearing for Spartak-2 Moscow in the second tier of Russian football. He joined Belgian club

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, an ...

in July 2018, where he scored 31 goals in 102 appearances over three seasons. He joined Rangers on a free transfer in 2021. Sakala was a member of the Zambia under-20 team that won the

2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, officially known as the Total U-20 Africa Cup Of Nations, Zambia 2017, was the 14th edition of the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations (21st edition if tournaments without hosts are included), the biennial internationa ...

. He made his senior international debut in September 2017.

Club career

Early career

Sakala began his senior career in Zambia with

and Zanaco. He helped Zanaco win the

in 2016. In February 2017, he signed a three-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dyna ...

, after being invited for a trial at their training camp in Cyprus. He made his debut in the

Russian Football National League The Russian First League (russian: Первая лига, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division (russian: Первый дивизион) and Russian Football National League (FNL) (russian: Первенство Футбольн� ...

for

FC Spartak-2 Moscow FC Spartak-2 Moscow (russian: ФК «Спартак-2» Москва) was a Russian football team from Moscow, founded in 1964. It was a farm club for the Russian Premier League team FC Spartak Moscow. History The club has participated in profes ...

on 23 March 2017, in a game against

FC Baltika Kaliningrad FC Baltika is an association football club based in Kaliningrad, Russia. Currently the club plays in the Russian First League, the second tier of the Russian football pyramid. History The club was founded on 22 December 1954 as ''Pishchevik Kalin ...

. On 9 July 2018, he signed a three-year contract with Belgian club

Rangers

On 4 May 2021, with his Oostende contract due to expire in the summer, Sakala signed a pre-contract agreement with

club Rangers on a four-year deal. On 31 July, he made his official debut in a 3–0 win over

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

in the league. On 31 October, he scored his first hat-trick for Rangers in a 6–1 league victory over

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

. On 4 October 2022, Sakala made his

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 ...

debut as a substitute in a 2–0 away loss against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

International career

Youth level

Sakala played youth international football for Zambia at under-20 and under-23 levels. He featured for the Zambia under-20 team that won the

, scoring three goals at the tournament. He also played for the under-20 team that reached the quarter-finals of the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as ...

, scoring four goals in the tournament. He scored seven goals in ten appearances in total at under-20 level. Sakala played one game for the Zambia under-23 team, against Nigeria at the

2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations was the third edition of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men's under-23 nati ...

Senior level

Sakala made his debut for the senior Zambia national team on 2 September 2017, in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, and was sent off for two bookings in the 56th minute.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Zambia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sakala goal''.

Honours

Zanaco *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Rangers *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2021–22 *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Zambia U20 *

Africa U-20 Cup of Nations The U-20 Africa Cup of Nations also called TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsoring reason (previously known as the African Youth Championship or the African U-20 Championship) is the main international youth football competition ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

* COSAFA U-20 Cup:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakala, Fashion Living people 1997 births People from Chipata District Zambian footballers Association football forwards Zambia international footballers Zambia youth international footballers Zambia under-20 international footballers 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations players Zambia Super League players Belgian Pro League players Nchanga Rangers F.C. players Zanaco F.C. players FC Spartak-2 Moscow players K.V. Oostende players Rangers F.C. players Zambian expatriate footballers Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland FC Spartak Moscow players