Godfrey Chitalu
Godfrey Chitalu (22 October 1947 – 27 April 1993), nicknamed Ucar, 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.
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Chitalu in 1993 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Godfrey Kangwa Chitalu | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 22 October 1947 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 27 April 1993 (aged 45) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Atlantic Ocean, off Gabon | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1957–1959 | Fisansa Youth Club | ||||||||||||||||
| 1959–1962 | Kwacha I Community Centre | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1964–1970 | Kitwe United | 200+ | (176+) | ||||||||||||||
| 1971–1982 | Kabwe Warriors | 500+ | (314+) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 700+ | (490+ ) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1968–1980 | Zambia | 111 | (79) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1986 | Kabwe Warriors | ||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1993 | Kabwe Warriors | ||||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Zambia | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
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.
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.