ABOUT GODFREY ‘UCAR’ CHITALU
Godfrey Chitalu, nicknamed Ucar (22 October 1947 – 27 April 1993) was a Zambian footballer who played as a forward.
He is widely regarded as the greatest Zambian player of all time as he holds his national team’s goalscoring record and was voted Zambian footballer of the year five times. In 2006, he was selected by CAF as one of the best 200 African footballers of the past 50 years.
The Football Association of Zambia claimed that Chitalu scored more than 100 goals in all competitions in 1972, more than Gerd Müller’s total in the same year and Lionel Messi’s total in 2012, both of which are often referred to by journalist as “world records”.
The research was presented in the year 2012 after Lionel Messi broke the alleged world record of Gerd Müller. Nevertheless, a FIFA spokesman declared that an official FIFA world record had never existed as they did not keep track of domestic competitions.
Chitalu was born in Luanshya, in the Copperbelt Province, in a tough neighbourhood called Mikomfwa where the youth got involved in various vices besides playing barefoot football. It is believed that these early experiences helped to shape his character.
He studied in Mikomfwa and managed to get a place in the school team at the age of 10. Shortly afterwards, he was surprised when the Recreation Officer, Benny Evans, invited him to Fisansa Youth Club for a trial after which he started playing for the team as a center-forward. Even though competition was stiff, Chitalu got into the under-15 district team and travelled to Bulawayo with the squad in 1958 as a reserve player and also took part in boxing.
In 1959 he got a transfer to Kawama School in Kitwe where he switched his position to inside-left and became a regular first team player. While at Kawama School, he joined the Kwacha I Community Centre team where he played at centre-forward. During his 3 years at the centre, Kwacha I remained champions in Kitwe District. Chitalu’s talent was noticed by a club trainer called Tirivavi, who encouraged him to concentrate on playing football and forget about boxing so he hung up his gloves conditioned too by the fact that not many boys of his age were interested in the sport.
In 1962, he completed his primary education and left Kitwe. He went to stay with his elder brother in Chingola and continued his studies at Mushishima Secondary School and played for the school team at inside-left. Chitalu returned to Kitwe and Kwacha I in 1964 and then joined the Kitwe United reserve team after being spotted by chairman Jethro Ngwane who was looking for young talent for his team.
From 1964 to 1971 he played for Kitwe United where he was encouraged to keep playing by Emment Kapengwe and improved his game. He was very strong and aggressive and admired Scottish player Denis Law. Chitalu showed plenty of skill but also had a reputation for being temperamental and rough.
In his own words, “he could not stand being booted without retaliation”. In 1968 he was named Club Captain and went on to score 81 goals for club and country which earned him Footballer of the year. 1971 he led Kitwe United to win the Chibuku cup against Kabwe warriors and later that year won his second Footballer of the year prize. In 1971, Chitalu moved to Kabwe with the intention of joining Kabwe Warriors. At first, Kitwe United tried to stop the move by saying they would not release him as Warriors had “caught a fish in the wrong waters”. Kitwe United then slapped a transfer fee of K15,000 which was more than seven times the record fee in Zambian football of K2,000.
Chitalu appealed to the National Football League and the transfer was eventually given the green light at a reduced fee of K3,500. After missing the first six games of the season, Chitalu scored a hat-trick in his first game, against Kalulushi Modern Stars. It was in this year that he started going by the nickname “Ucar” after the long lasting Ucar batteries manufactured by Union Carbide.
He won the league and Chibuku Cup double in his first season at Kabwe Warriors and ended the year as top scorer with 51 goals for club and country.
Upon retirement, Chitalu took to coaching and was in charge of the Zambia national team when the entire squad perished in a plane crash off the coast of Gabon on 27 April 1993. #SportAppreciation
Source: Chalo Chatu