Samuel’Zoom’Ndhlovu is a Zambian football legend whose distinguished career spurned for four decades. He is probably aguabably Zambia’s greatest local coach. In his playing career, he played alongside Philip Sabu Dickson Makwaza, Peter Mhango and Henry Kalimukwa and led Mighty Mufulira Wanderers to levels of achievement unequalled by any player of his time.
‘Zoom’ as he became to be known to the hard core ‘Mighte’ fans because of
the manner he meandered past defenders with his trademark zigzag dribbling won five league championships;1963,1965,1966,1967 and 1969 and six castle cup now renamed Mosi cup;1965,1966,1968,1971,1973 and1974.
In 1974 ‘Zoom’ hang up his boots as he went straight into coaching his beloved Mighty Mufulira Wanderers. The former Shinde stadium crowd favourite guided ‘Mighte’ to the 1978 and 1984 BP Challenge cup as wanderers became kings of late comebacks hence the tag ‘ Mighte awina ichungulo’. At Shinde stadium he nurtured some of the greatest names to have ever played for Zambia. ‘Zoom’ gloomed the midfield trinity of Kalusha Bwalya, Charles Musonda and Johnstone’One man Commado’ Bwalya and Goalkeeper Efford Chabala and defender Ashios Melu. ‘Zoom’ exploited their talents further. Under his charge the as five rose to great heights with Melu later joining Kalusha, Musonda and Bwalya in Europe when he signed up for Greek side Olympiakos, while Chabala had a stint with Argentine side, Boca Juniors. They also became key members of the Seoul 1988 Olympic team that became the first African country to reach the quarter finals stage of any World football tournament.
They opened with a 2-2 draw with Iraq and followed it up with a 4-1 whitewash of Guatemala and then caused the upset of the championship with a 4-0 humiliation of fancied Italy courtesy of a Kalusha hatrick.The team leaped into the quarterfinals of the competition where they came up short against the far better equipped Germans, led by the emerging Juergen Klinnsman, losing 4-0. The Olympic team was one of the best squads, ‘Zoom’ has ever built and on 24th October 1988, the then republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda honoured him with the order of distinguished service.
He held the post of national team coach on three occasions and although he did not achieve much in terms of trophies (his greatest disappointment was not being able to take Zambia to the World Cup at a time when they were one of the undisputed kings of Africa; 1984-1992), there are few who would claim that they never got their money’s worth showing up at Independence stadium.
The one oft-repeated criticism about his game plan was that he was too committed to attack, could not be relied up to keep a clean sheet when this was the absolute imperative, as was the case in the latter stages of the 1990 World Cup qualifying series.But even with that in mind, the days of Zoom’s Zambia were the days when soccer fans spent nights outside Independence stadium for fear they might not be able to get a ticket when the gates opened the next day.How many fans would not pay big bucks to see a repeat of the 1988 Zambia-Ghana Olympics qualifier when for 90 minutes, Ndhlovu’s men haunted and taunted the Black Stars on the way to a 2-0 victory?How many would stay home were Ndhlovu’s Zambia to return to Independence this afternoon to re-enact their 4-2 demolition of the dreaded Zaire Leopards who featured 11 professionals from some of Europe’s top sides when Zambia had only four foreign-based squad members?
Which soccer fan does not recall with relish the afternoon a certain Charles Musonda bamboozled the Malawian Flames at Independence stadium as Zambia stormed to a 7-1 in a pre-Olympics friendly, prompting the Malawian star Kennedy Malunga to predict, “If Zambia play like this at the Olympics in South Korea, they will go very far?”One of his charges, explaining why Zambia always seemed to do well in the second half under ‘Zoom’, once described him as possessing a ‘video mind’.“He spends the first half studying the opposition and he does it so well that in the second half, he had it all worked out,” said Charles Musonda, who would go on to feature for Belgian giants, Anderlecht.
Among Ndhlovu’s most significant achievements as coach was leading Zambia to the 1988 World Cup finals in South Korea. He also won two East and Central Senior Challenge Cup in 1984 and 1991. The former wing wizard guided Zambia to the bronze medal at 1990 at the African cup of nations in Algeria and reached the quarter finals to years later.
‘Zoom’ is credited with the building of KK IX that died in a plane crash in 1993 as most of the players were from the 1992 African cup of nation’s squad. His love affair with the national team ended when he was sacked after a 2-0 defeat with Madagascar in late 1992. Upon returning home he was promptly replaced by Godfrey ‘Ucar’ Chitalu, who died along with 29 others on that fated flight on the way to Senegal a few months later.
‘Zoom’ also coached in Botswana before he death on 11th October, 2001. The Zambian league opening game (Samuel ’ZOOM’ Ndhlovu charity shield) is named in honour of one of the greatest footballer and coach Zambia has ever produced.
Samuel’Zoom’Ndhlovu is a Zambian football legend whose distinguished career spurned for four decades. He is probably aguabably Zambia’s greatest local coach. In his playing career, he played alongside Philip Sabu Dickson Makwaza, Peter Mhango and Henry Kalimukwa and led Mighty Mufulira Wanderers to levels of achievement unequalled by any player of his time. 
