Ndaye Mulamba

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

Ndaye Mulamba
Personal information
Full name Pierre Ndaye Mulamba
Date of birth (1948-11-04)4 November 1948
Place of birth Luluabourg, Belgian Congo
Date of death 26 January 2019(2019-01-26) (aged 70)
Place of death Johannesburg, South Africa
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1962–1964 Renaissance du Kasaï
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1964–1971 Renaissance du Kasaï
1971–1972 AS Bantous
1972–1988 AS Vita Club 224 (116)
National team
1967–1971 Congo-Kinshasa – (–)
1973–1976 Zaire[1] 20 (10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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 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 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]

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