Kapambwe Mulenga (1963–1996) 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 ...

who played as a defender. He played for Zambia's most successful football team, Nkana Red Devils FC, and its successor

Nkana FC Nkana FC is a football club based in Kitwe, Zambia. The football team is competing in the MTN/FAZ Super Division, and is regarded as one of the country's most popular teams. Nkana FC has won 13 League titles, which made it to be Zambia's most ...

, as well as with the national football team with whom he participated in the 1986, 1990 and 1994 (where Zambia lost in the finals against Nigeria)

African 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 ...

. He was always a crowd favourite owing to both his hard play and comic antics on and off the field of play. Kapambwe made a name as one of the few footballers in the country to have played effectively as defender and midfielder for both club and country. Kapambwe, fondly known as 'gentile,' played in the 1980s and 1990s when Zambian football was at its peak with local clubs like Nkana Red Devils,

Power Dynamos Power Dynamos is a Zambian football club based in Kitwe that plays in the MTN/FAZ Super Division. They play their home games at Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe. The club is currently sponsored by Copperbelt Energy Corporation. Power Dynamos is ...

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 ...

Green Buffaloes Green Buffaloes Football Club is a Zambia Army-sponsored football team which was founded in 1965 as Zambian Army and later changed to Green Buffaloes FC. Green Buffaloes is one of the most successful club in the history of Zambian football and dom ...

and Kabwe Warriors competing fiercely at continental levels. He briefly crossed over to Nkana's fierce rivals Power Dynamos before returning to Nkana and was later appointed assistant player-coach shortly before his death in 1996. Kapambwe was an

African Cup of Champions Clubs The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and cont ...

Silver medalist in 1990 when Nkana lost in the final against

JS Kabylie Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (in ar, شبيبة القبائل), (Kabyle language, Kabyle: Ilemẓiyen inaddalen n leqbayel, Berber languages, In Tamazight: ⵉⵍⵎⵣⵢⵏ ⵉⵏⴰⴷⴰⵍⴻⵏ ⵏ ⵍⵇⵠⴰⵢⵍ), known as JS Kabyli ...

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

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

and won a record 7 leagues titles with Nkana. He died in early 1996 after a short illness in

Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

References

External links

* 1963 births 1996 deaths Zambian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Zambia men's international footballers 1986 African Cup of Nations players 1990 African Cup of Nations players 1994 African Cup of Nations players Nkana F.C. players {{Zambia-footy-bio-stub