Godfrey Chitalu didn’t just rewrite Africa’s goalscoring record books - he tore it up.
The talented forward lost his life at the age of 45, in one of the worst air disasters to ever affect international football.
He had only just started his coaching career. At that time, Zambia was eager to announce their debut on the world stage. Instead, perhaps the greatest crop of Zambian talent was dead. Chitalu never got the opportunity to disprove the adage that great players cannot be great coaches.
One fact remained doubtless - Chitalu was a great player. He is responsible for some great records: Two African champions club records, the African record for most international goals, being the only African to make the top 5 international goal scorers and breaking two world records - twice.
Despite this, few have heard of Chitalu outside of Africa, and those who did, knew him only because he became the spanner in the works of Lionel Messi’s coronation as the calendar year record holder in 1991. Messi was closing in on West German great Gerd Müller’s record of 85, but there was a problem. It didn’t add up – literally.
Zambians knew. There’s a photo of a smiling Chitalu, holding a ball with the number 107 on it. The photo was taken soon after Chitalu broke the record for a season. The Zambians stood up for Chitalu. Then FAZ President, Kalusha Bwalya, was adamant it was Chitalu’s record. The Chairman of Kabwe Warriors at the time, Andrew Kamanga, grew up watching Chitalu score at will. He decided to change the name of the club’s stadium from the Railway Stadium to the Godfrey Ucar Chitalu 107 Stadium.
Godfrey Chitalu after the 107 goals mark (Author’s archive)
The Zambians rose to the challenge. Every goal that Chitalu scored in that remarkable 1972 was documented thoroughly. There was no TV or Internet in those days in Zambia, but there were newspaper reports of matches. These held very detailed information: venue, date, opponent, competition, score and Chitalu’s contributions were meticulously noted by Jerry Muchimba who would later publish a book on it, Godfrey ‘Ucar’ Chitalu.
There’s an irony in this. It’s common knowledge that African record-keeping in football is dreadful, to put it mildly, with one notable exception – Godfrey Chitalu’s 1972. The records of Chitalu’s glorious year are meticulous.
Zambia's legendary soccer commentator Dennis Liwewe calls for the recognition of Zambian striker of all times Godfrey 'Ucar' Chitalu.
Kabwe Warriors and Chitalu won five trophies that year, the Charity Shield, the league narrowly and three cups: the Chibuku Cup, the Challenge Cup and the Castle Cup.
Looking deeply into the matter, Chitalu’s achievements had been underestimated even in 2012. Zambia’s season in 1972 started at the end of February. Chitalu’s total of 107 began with Zambia’s Charity Shield on February 27th. But Müller’s total of 85 and Messi’s of 91 was for the calendar years of 1972 and 2012 – leap years. Chitalu’s season finished in the calendar year. His season tally – set in 309 days – beat their totals of 366. If Chitalu is given the whole year, an interesting anomaly emerges. Chitalu scored at least 116 goals, and the missing nine goals have a story to tell. They are a still unbroken African Champions Clubs football record – the most goals in a match by an individual.
On January 23rd 1972 Lesotho’s champions Majantja entertained Zambia’s champions Kabwe Warriors at the National Stadium in the capital, Maseru. It ended with a 2-2 draw – Chitalu scored both for Kabwe. Two weeks later, the Warriors trounced Majantja 9-0 at the now destroyed Dag Hammarskjöld Stadium in Ndola. Sandford Mvula and the late great Boniface Simutowe scored once, but the headlines rightly belonged to Chitalu - setting a still unbroken Cup of Champions Clubs record of 7 goals in a match. 48 years later, the record still holds.
Chitalu’s 1972 tally of 13 in the tournament was one shy of excellent Malian Salif Keita’s record which was set in 1966 for Real Bamako. Chitalu scored once in each leg against Madagascar’s champions AS St Michel in the second round and again in the quarter-final against Ghana’s champions Accra Hearts of Oak to add to his nine against Majantja. Those nine goals against Majantja were scored before the Zambian season started. This marked the separation of the Single Season and Calendar Year records for the first time – the latter being 116 – a full 31 ahead of Müller’s ‘record’ and 25 more than Messi.
So whose record had Chitalu broken? Four years earlier, while playing for Kitwe United, Chitalu scored 81 goals, breaking the record of the great Pelé – 75 in 1958. Pelé took the record from Hungarian great Ferenc Deák – 66 in 1946. And Deák had taken the record from England’s Dixie Dean – 63 in 1927. Interestingly, only Chitalu’s records in 1972 had to be verified. One can ask himself: Why is that?
There’s plenty more to Chitalu, but this legendary striker’s career would require a whole series of reports at the very least.
Satish Sekar is an author and journalist as well as the founder of Empower-Sport Ltd. The articles on Africa's Goal King, Godfrey Chitalu are part of Respect Africa project, which aims to ensure that African icons are given the respect their achievements deserve.
An undisputable goal king, that must receive more recognition (Author’s archive)
