Fernando Paulo "Nando" Matola (9 August 1982 – 2 September 2007) was a Mozambican

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 represented two clubs in a nine-year career and earned 15

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for his country.

Career

Matola played for

Costa do Sol Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of t ...

in his homeland and

Black Leopards Black Leopards FC is a South African football club based in Thohoyandou, Vhembe Region, Limpopo that plays in the National First Division. History The club was founded in 1983 by business people in the Vhembe Region. In 1998 the club was tak ...

in South Africa, both of which he captained.

Death

Matola was driving from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

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 ...

for an

African Nations Cup 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 ...

qualifier against

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

when his car veered off the road and went up in flames. He, his wife and their children were burnt beyond recognition and the bodies were discovered four days later in South Africa's mountainous

Limpopo province Limpopo is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while th ...

References

External links

* 1982 births 2007 deaths Mozambican men's footballers Mozambique men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Road incident deaths in South Africa CD Costa do Sol players Black Leopards F.C. players Moçambola players South African Premier Division players Mozambican expatriate men's footballers Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa {{Mozambique-footy-bio-stub