Ndaye_Mulamba

Ndaye Mulamba

Ndaye Mulamba

DR Congolese footballer (1948–2019)

Pierre Ndaye Mulamba (4 November 1948 – 26 January 2019) was a footballer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, who played as a forward. He was nicknamed "Mutumbula" ("assassin") and "Volvo".[2][3]

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Football career

Mulamba was born in Luluabourg (now Kananga) in 1948.[4] In 1973, he starred for AS Vita Club of Kinshasa, who won the African Cup of Champions Clubs.[3] He was a second-half substitute for the Zaire national team against Morocco in the decisive match in qualification for the 1974 World Cup.[5] In 1974 Mulamba played for Zaire in both the African Cup of Nations in Egypt [6] and the FIFA World Cup in West Germany. In Egypt he scored nine goals, still a record,[7] as Zaire won the tournament. Mulamba was named Player of the Tournament and was awarded the National Order of the Leopard by President Mobutu Sese Seko.[3] In Germany, he captained the team,[7] and played in the 2–0 defeat by Scotland,[8] but was sent off after 22 minutes against Yugoslavia.[8] Zaire were already losing 4–0 by then, and finally lost 9–0.[8] Mulamba said later that the team had underperformed, either in protest or from loss of morale, after not receiving a promised $45,000 match bonus.[2][3]

Later life

In 1994, Mulamba was honoured at the 1994 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia.[3] On returning to Zaire, he was shot in the leg by robbers who mistakenly assumed a former sports star would be a wealthy target.[9][2][3][7] He was sheltered by Emmanuel Paye-Paye for eight months' recuperation.[3] During the First Congo War, Mulamba's eldest son was killed and in 1996 he fled to South Africa as a refugee, alone and destitute.[2] He went to Johannesburg and then Cape Town, where he was taken in by a family in a township.[2] In 1998, a minute's silence was held at the African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso after an erroneous report that Mulamba had died in a diamond mining accident in Angola.[3] By then Mulamba was unemployed and drinking heavily.[3]

By 2010 Mulamba was working as a coach of local amateur teams and had married a local woman.[2] Forgotten Gold, a documentary filmed in 2008–09, follows him in South Africa and on a visit back to Congo.[7][10] He also met with Danny Jordaan, head of the organising committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[7]

Mulamba suffered from heart, kidney and knee problems in later life and was a wheelchair user.[11][12] He lived in poverty and without recognition in the Khayelitsha township of Cape Town.[11] He died in Johannesburg on 26 January 2019.[12][11][13]

Honours

AS Vita Club
Zaire

References

  1. [1]
    Appearances for Congo-Kinshasa National Team
  2. [2]
    Harding, Andrew (5 June 2010). "Africa's abandoned football legend". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  3. [3]
    Maradas, Emmanuel (1998). "Interview with Ndaye Mulamba". African Soccer Magazine. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  4. [4]
    Ndaye Mulamba – FIFA competition record (archived)
  5. [5]
    "Leopards roar to Germany 1974". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  6. [6]
    Maradas, Emmanuel (28 March 2006). "Qu'est devenu Ndaye Mulamba?" (in French). La Conscience. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014.
  7. [7]
    "From Cape to Congo". World Cup News. FIFA. 21 August 2009. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  8. [8]
    "Match report: Zaire – Scotland". 1974 FIFA World Cup Germany. FIFA. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  9. [9]
    Okeleji, Oluwashina (18 February 2019). "The two-halves of the late Zaire striker Pierre Ndaye Mulamba's life". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  10. [10]
    "Forgotten Gold". Berlinale Talent Campus. Berlin Film Festival. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  11. [11]
    "Congolese legend Mulamba Ndaye dies in South Africa aged 70". BBC. 26 January 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  12. [12]
    "RDC: Héros des Léopards, Pierre Ndaye Mulamba n'est plus!". Politico.cd (in French). 26 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  13. [13]
    Allie, Mohammed (26 January 2019). "African legend Mulamba Ndaye dies in South Africa aged 70". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
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