Chanda Mwaba (born 2 October 1988) is a

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

n former

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 ...

midfielder.

Career

Mwaba was one of the Zambians who came to

RoPS Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

in 2007 aged just 18, joining RoPS with Nchimunya Mweetwa, Stephen Kunda, Chileshe Chibwe and Zeddy Saileti's younger brother Derik Saileti for a trial. The quintet of Mweetwa, Kunda, Chibwe and Mwaba were awarded professional contracts with RoPS, with Mwaba signing a 4-year deal (until 2010), but extended it for a further 2 years in 2007. At the end of the season RoPS won promotion to Veikkausliiga (Finnish Premier Division), and Mwaba was called by Kari Virtanen the most promising 18-year-old in Finland he has seen. Mwaba also received praise from

Jyrki Heliskoski Jyrki Antero ("Jyrä") Heliskoski (September 28, 1945 – December 28, 2020) was a Finnish people, Finnish football (soccer), football coach (sport), coach. Heliskoski worked briefly as the head coach of the Finland national football team, Finland ...

the former HJK and former Finnish National team coach. On 15 November 2008 RoPS revealed that Mwaba had been loaned to his former club Power Dynamos F.C. where he would play alongside Stephen Kunda on a guest player status. During the loan spell, Mwaba scored Power Dynamos' first goal against Roan United, in a game that eventually ended 2-2. On 12 July 2009, during a game against

FF Jaro Fotbollsföreningen Jaro (''Jakobstads Rostfria''), commonly known simply as Jaro, is a Finnish professional football club based in the bilingual town of Jakobstad. The club currently plays in Veikkausliiga, the top tier in Finland. History Ja ...

Jakobstad Jakobstad (; , ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Jakobstad is situated in Ostrobothnia (administrative region), Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Jakobstad is approximately , while the Jako ...

, Mwaba provided four assists for RoPS, with his side coming out 5-3 victors. Mwaba also provided a pass which lead to a penalty being awarded to his team, but it was later missed by Mika-Matti Maisonvaara. On 6 August 2009, Mwaba received his first call up to the Zambia's national football team by

Hervé Renard Hervé Jean-Marie Roger Renard (born 30 September 1968) is a French professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Saudi Arabia. Renard has previously been the manager of Zambia national team, with whom he won the 2012 ...

. He impressed Renard, who was before watching the game against FC Lahti. Zambia faced

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

in London on 12 August, but Mwaba and seven other Zambian players did not get their visas in time due to a heavy workload in the embassy. Mwaba and eight other RoPS players got sacked in the spring of 2011 due to a match fixing scandal. Mwaba also received a 20-month prison sentence for

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

References

External links

*
at rops.fi
*
at veikkausliiga.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mwaba, Chanda 1988 births Zambian men's footballers 21st-century Zambian sportsmen Zambia men's international footballers Zambian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Veikkausliiga players Rovaniemen Palloseura players Living people