Tendayi David Darikwa (born 13 December 1991) is a 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

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for EFL Championship club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. Born in England, he represents the Zimbabwe national team internationally.

Early life

Born to Zimbabwean expatriate parents in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, Darikwa was raised in

West Bridgford West Bridgford is a town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Rushcliffe in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies immediately south of the city of Nottingham, from which the River Trent divides it. Forming part of the Not ...

, Nottinghamshire attending Abbey Road Primary School.

Club career

Chesterfield

Darikwa started his career at Chesterfield, signing his first professional contract in the summer of 2010, before joining Barrow on loan with fellow Chesterfield player Craig Clay in October 2010. He made his debut for Chesterfield on 27 November 2010 in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, in a 3–1 defeat by

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

in the 55th minute replacing Deane Smalley. Darikwa made his league debut for Chesterfield in the 2011–12 season when he started away to hometown club

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

. He was offered a new one-year contract by the club in May 2012. Due to good league performances early in 2012–13 season, after the appointment of new manager

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English drummer and member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He was also called "Cookie" by his friends on the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was raised in Hammersmith and atte ...

in late October 2012, Darikwa signed a one-year contract extension until 2015. He then received national recognition by winning the Football League Young Player of the Month for December 2012 In October 2013, Darikwa was linked with a move to

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 Fo ...

club Manchester United, with the then manager David Moyes scouting the player. Darikwa said he was flattered in the interest, but felt he was not ready to play at that level. On 30 March 2014, he played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

in Chesterfield's 3–1 defeat to

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

in the final of the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

. He also played a vital role in helping the club get promoted when they won the

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

Championship at the end of the 2013–14 season. After being converted from a

right 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 ...

to a

during the 2013–14 season, for the 2014–15 season Darikwa's squad number was changed from his usual number 7 shirt to 2 to reflect his positional change. On 7 April 2015, he scored his first goal of the 2014–15 season with a headed goal in a victory against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. After another impressive season in his converted right back position, Darikwa helped Chesterfield reach the League One play-offs in 2014–15; however, they were beaten over two legs in the semi-final against Preston North End. On 6 May 2015, Darikwa won four awards at the Chesterfield end of season awards where he won the Player of the Year Award and Players' Player of the Season Award.

Burnley

Darikwa signed a three-year-contract with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

on 30 July 2015. On 8 August 2015, the opening day of the 2015–16 season, he made his debut for Burnley against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

in a 1–1 draw, getting the assist for

Sam Vokes Samuel Michael Vokes (born 21 October 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL League One club Wycombe Wanderers and the Wales national team. Vokes began his professional career at AFC Bournemouth in League One, makin ...

' equalizer. On 26 September, he scored his first goal for Burnley in a 2–1 loss to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

Nottingham Forest

Darikwa signed a four-year contract with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 26 July 2017. He made his league debut for the club on 4 August 2017 in a 1–0 home win over

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in an EFL Cup tie against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on 20 September 2017.

Wigan Athletic

On 11 January 2021, Darikwa joined EFL League One side

on a short-term contract until the end of the season, making his debut for the club on 16 January in a 3–3 draw with

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. Darikwa signed a two-year contract with the club on 1 July 2021. He scored his first goal for Wigan in a 2–0 win at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on 21 August 2021.

International career

In October 2013, Darikwa revealed he was keen to play for the Zimbabwe national team but reconsidered his position after being asked to pay a 'processing fee' by a former Zimbabwe Football Association official. He did reveal he would consider any future approach from Zimbabwe or England. Darikwa made his debut for Zimbabwe on 8 November 2017 in a friendly defeat to Lesotho.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Chesterfield *

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

: 2013–14 *

runner-up: 2013–14 Zimbabwe * COSAFA Cup bronze:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Wigan league 1 2021/22 Individual * Football League Young Player of the Month: December 2012 * Chesterfield Player of the Year: 2014–15 *Chesterfield Players' Player of the Season: 2014–15

References

External links

Profile
on the Nottingham Forest F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Darikwa, Tendayi 1991 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham English footballers Zimbabwean footballers Zimbabwe international footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Chesterfield F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Hinckley United F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Black British sportspeople English people of Zimbabwean descent European sportspeople of Zimbabwean descent