Knowledge Musona (born 21 June 1990) is a Zimbabwean 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 ...

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 ...

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 Al-Tai in the

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

, and captains the Zimbabwe national team. Previously, he has played senior football in South Africa, Belgium and Germany.

Personal life

Knowledge Musona hails from

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada * Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

Mashonaland West Mashonaland West is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of 57,441 km² and a population of approximately 1.5 million (2012). Chinhoyi is the capital of the province. Districts Mashonaland West is divided into 7 districts: * Chegutu * ...

and attended Lord Malvern High School in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

. His younger brother Walter Musona is also a professional footballer.

Club career

Musona made his debut for

Hoffenheim Hoffenheim () is a village in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Sinsheim and, as of 2020, it has a population of 3,191. History The village, settled since prehistoric times, and first mentioned ...

as a substitute against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

in a 3–1 win and scored his first goal in a 2–1

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

win over Köln on 25 October 2011. On 18 May 2012, it was announced that he would join

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

on a one-year loan for the upcoming season. In July 2013, he left Germany and moved to South African side Kaizer Chiefs on a loan deal. He scored eight goals in 19 league matches, including a vital goal which sent his team into the last 16 of the

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of givi ...

. Musona scored a hat trick in a 3–0 first-round, second-leg

CAF Champions League 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 co ...

victory over Liga Muculmana in

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

on 6 March, progressing to the next round of the competition on a 7–0 aggregate scoreline after winning 4–0 at

Moses Mabhida Stadium The Moses Mabhida Stadium is a association football, football stadium in Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, named after Moses Mabhida, a former General Secretary of the South African Communist Party. It is a multi-use stadium. ...

. Musona suffered an ankle sprain in a 2–0 win over

AS Vita Club Association Sportive Vita Club, more commonly known as AS Vita Club, AS V. Club or simply Vita Club, is a Congolese football club based in Kinshasa. History AS Vita Club was founded in 1935 by Honoré Essabe under the name of ''Renaissance'' in ...

in the

on 29 March 2014 where they lost 3–2 on aggregate. Musona ended the season with 16 goals in 25 starts in all competitions. He attracted interest from clubs in Belgium, Germany and

Roda Roda may refer to: Places *Stadtroda (called Roda until 1925), a town in Thuringia, Germany *Roda, Greece, a village in Corfu, Greece * Roda, Punjab, a town and Union Council of Punjab, Pakistan *Roda, Portugal, a village in Viseu district, Portu ...

of the Netherlands. On 5 August, Musona started training with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club,

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

. On 18 December 2014, Musona signed for Belgian club Oostende, effective 1 January 2015, with the player signing a two-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee. His agent Paschalis Tountouris stated that this move was the ideal step to revive his career. He joined

Andile Jali Andile Ernest Jali (born 10 April 1990) is a South African soccer player who plays for Mamelodi Sundowns in the Premier Soccer League and the South African national football team. Club career University of Pretoria Mhlekazi, as his teammate ...

at the Belgian club. He made his Belgian Pro League debut on 17 January 2015 in a 7–1 home defeat to K.V. Kortrijk. He was subbed off in the 67th minute, being replaced by Fernando Canesin. He scored his first competitive goal for the club on 21 February 2015 in a 3–1 home defeat to

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

in the league. His goal, assisted by

Elimane Coulibaly Elimane Coulibaly (born 15 March 1980 in Dakar) is a Senegal, Senegalese retired professional footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Club career First years Having emigrated from Senegal to Belgium, Coulibaly first ...

, was scored in the 77th minute. In May 2018, Musona moved to

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

, signing a four-year deal. This came after reported interest from another

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

side,

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. He made his league debut for the club on the opening day of the season, coming on for Landry Dimata in the 86th minute of Anderlecht's 4–1 away victory over K.V. Kortrijk. He scored his first competitive goal for the club on 26 August 2018 in a 2–1 away defeat to Club Brugge. His goal, assisted by

Ivan Santini Ivan Santini (; born 21 May 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Swiss club Zürich. Club career Ivan Santini, born in Zadar, played for his hometown side's youth team, until the summer of 2006, when he moved ...

, was scored in the 19th minute and levelled the scores at one. In January 2019, Musona was loaned out to

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

until the end of the 2018–19 season. He made his league debut for the club on 19 January 2019, playing all ninety minutes of a 4–1 away defeat to

Eupen Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border (Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the "High Fens" na ...

. He scored his first league goal for the club on 9 February 2019 in a 2–1 home victory over

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

. His goal, assisted by Marko Mirić, was scored in the 32nd minute.

International career

Musona made his national team debut in a friendly against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

on 3 March 2010. He is often considered to be one of the finest strikers to ever come out of Zimbabwe. At the 2017 African Cup of Nations, he scored a goal against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, beating two defenders and smashing the ball beyond the goalkeeper. On 11 June 2017, he scored a hat trick to join other Zimbabwean hat trick heroes like the legendary

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 ...

and

Vitalis Takawira Vitalis "Digital" Takawira (born September 24, 1972 in Salisbury) is a retired Zimbabwean football player. He has played forward and attacking midfield professionally in Zimbabwe, Switzerland and the United States, as well as for the Zimbabwe n ...

. Musona announced his retirement from international football in 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Musona, Knowledge 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Mashonaland West Province Zimbabwean footballers Zimbabwean expatriate footballers Zimbabwe international footballers Association football forwards Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Bundesliga players Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in Germany Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia FC Augsburg players K.V. Oostende players R.S.C. Anderlecht players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players K.A.S. Eupen players Al-Tai FC players Belgian Pro League players Saudi Professional League players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players People from Norton, Zimbabwe