Blessing Makunike (24 January 1977 – 13 March 2004) was a

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

an international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er.

Club career

Makunike started his career in 1997 with

Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League is the top professional division of the Zimbabwe Football Association. It was founded in 1980, as a successor to the 1962 formed ''Rhodesia National Football League.'' It is currently sponsored by Delta Beverages ...

club CAPS United F.C., where he played until the end of the 2002 season. Together with his teammate, Leonard Tsipa, he then spent half a season with Serbian club

FK Javor Ivanjica FK Javor Ivanjica () is a professional football club based in Ivanjica, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian First League, the second tier of the national league system. History In 1912, a student named Milan Radojević brought the first football ...

, where international Zimbabwean footballer

Mike Temwanjera Mike Temwanjera (born 21 May 1982) is a Zimbabwean former professional association football, footballer who usually played as a centre-forward, but also as a second striker. A member of FC Vaslui from January 2007 until summer 2014, he was one ...

, together with other African players, helped them incorporate into the squad. However, he and Leonard went back to CAPS in the next summer, playing in the second semester of the 2003 Zimbabwean football season.

International career

From 1998 to 2001 he played eight matches for the

Zimbabwe national football team The Zimbabwe national football team (nicknamed ''The Warriors'') represents Zimbabwe in men's international football and is controlled by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), formerly known as the Football Association of Rhodesia. The tea ...

having scored one goal.

Car accident

On 13 March 2004, Makunike, together with two other players, Shingirai Alron and Gary Mashoko, and two supporters, burned to death when their car hit the pillar of the bridge and caught fire, the greatest loss of lives in a single incident in Zimbabwean football.CAPS players laid to rest
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Honours

CAPS United * Zimbabwe Premier League: 2004 * Zimbabwe Cup: 1997, 1998, 2004 * Independence Trophy: 1997

References

External links

* * * * at Srbijafudbal 1977 births 2004 deaths Footballers from Harare Zimbabwean men's footballers Zimbabwe men's international footballers CAPS United players FK Javor Ivanjica players Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia and Montenegro Men's association football defenders Road incident deaths in Zimbabwe Zimbabwean expatriate men's footballers Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in Serbia and Montenegro {{Zimbabwe-footy-bio-stub