Isaac Chansa (born 23 March 1984), popularly known as "Zife", 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 professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Forest Rangers in the

Zambia Super League The Zambia Super League, known as the MTN Group, MTN Super League for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes, is the top association football sports league, league created in 1962 by the Football Association of Zambia. The winners of the leag ...

Club career

Chambishi and Power Dynamos

Chansa was born in

Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...

and began his professional club career at

Chambishi Chambishi is a town in Kalulushi District in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. According to the 2021 Census its population stands at slightly above 11,000. It is located on the T3 road (Zambia), T3 road (Kitwe-Chingola Dual Carriageway) between ...

, but he didn't find his place in the first squad and later moved to Power Dynamos. With Dynamos, he appeared in 45 league matches, scoring 16 goals between 2002 and 2004. He was in Dynamos' 2003 Zambian Cup, 2003 Zambian Coca-Cola Cup and 2004 Zambian Charity Shield winning squad. He has also appeared in 2002 African Cup Winners' Cup.

Orlando Pirates

From 2004 to 2007, he moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and played for

Premier Soccer League The Premier Soccer League (PSL) is the administrative body for professional soccer leagues and cups in South Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, and was founded in 1996 following an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnant ...

side

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club, referred to as simply Pirates, is a South African professional football club based in Orlando, Soweto that plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as Betway Premiership. The team plays i ...

, where he scored 7 goals in 43 league matches. He was in Pirates' Premier Soccer League 2004–05 and 2005–06 Runners-up squad. With Pirates, he won the friendly tournament Vodacom Challenge in 2005. In 2020, then Orlando manager Milutin Sredojevic, has identified Chansa as one of the best players he has ever coached, thanks to the player's big heart and true discipline.

Helsingborgs

He later joined Swedish

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

team

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs Idrottsförening, commonly referred to as Helsingborgs IF, Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan, following releg ...

for the 2007–08 season to team up with former South Africa national team coach Stuart Baxter. Chansa played there until 2009. In late 2006, while still playing for Pirates, Chansa was banned by the

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...

for three months (nine suspended) after he was found guilty of assaulting an assistant referee during Pirates’ clash against

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos is a South African soccer club based in Johannesburg that plays in the ABC Motsepe League. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. At the end of the 2021–22 National First Division season, the ...

. With Helsingborgs IF, he appeared in

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

matches in 2007 and

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

qualifying matches in 2009.

Second stint with Orlando

After the end of his contract in Sweden with Helsingborgs IF, he returned on 1 February 2010 to his former club

. He signed a pre-contract with Pirates' Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs to join the club in July 2012. He played for the team, where he had already used to play earlier, a season and a half and featured in 41 matches, where he scored 12 goals. He also won the

title in 2010 with Orlando and he is still considered as Pirates legend.

Henan Jianye

In June 2012, Orlando Pirates confirmed that he moved to Chinese club Henan Jianye F.C. for a transfer fee of 700,000 US Dollars. Chansa, who scored a spectacular goal against Golden Arrows at

Orlando Stadium Orlando Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, a township in Johannesburg, in Gauteng province in South Africa. It is the home venue for Orlando Pirates Football Club, a professional soccer team that plays in the Premier Soccer League a ...

to wrap up Pirates' league title on the final day of the season two years ago, joined the Henan Jianye, which is based in

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...

in the province of

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

. The club was promoted to the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

in 2006. They finished third in 2009. Chansa joined

teammate and former

star Chris Katongo at Henan. It was not a suitable move for him and after an even more chaotic and the unsatisfying season of

in 2012, the club was relegated to the second division and he came back to

Zanaco F.C.

In 2013, after the end of the Chinese Super League season, Chansa became a free agent after his Chinese club Henan Jianye offloaded him. He then came back to

and hired by Zanaco until he get a new club. It was announced that, Chansa has joined FAZ/MTN Super league defending champions Zanaco as a guest player. He scored 5 goals in 25 Zambia Super League matches from 2013 to 2014.

Shillong Lajong

On 8 August 2014, it was confirmed that,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

club

Shillong Lajong FC Shillong Lajong Football Club (founded as Lajong SC) is an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Shillong, Meghalaya. The club is currently competing in the I-League, the second tier of the Indian football league syst ...

have completed the signing of Zambian International and

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

2012 winner Isaac Chansa as their 3rd foreigner. On his new contract, Chansa said that "I am happy and look forward to this new challenge. I will do my best to contribute in the team’s success in any way I can and repay the faith shown in me by the team management." He played only few 2014–15 Indian Federation Cup matches for Lajong and have not appeared in any

match.

NorthEast United

After signing a short-term contract with Shillong Lajong, he loaned out to their affiliated

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

side

NorthEast United FC NorthEast United Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Guwahati, Assam that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded on 13 April 2014 during the inaugural sea ...

in 2014. He made his Indian Super League debut on 16 October against giants

Atlético de Kolkata ATK Football Club (also known as Atlético de Kolkata in association with Atlético Madrid) was an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competed in the ISL, the top flight of Indian football. They were ...

in a 2–0 loss match. With the NorthEast, he appeared in 8 league matches.

Mitra Kukar

In 2015, he moved to

Liga 2 (Indonesia) Liga 2 ( English: ''League Two''), officially known as Pegadaian Liga 2 for sponsorship reasons, is the second-tier of the football competition system in Indonesia, organized by Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI). The competition starte ...

outfit PS Mitra Kukar and appeared in few league matches but lifted the General Sudirman Cup in 2015.

Back to Zanaco

He returned to

and signed with his previous club Zanaco F.C. for 2 seasons. He played there until 2017 and won the 2016 Zambian Super League.

Royal Eagles

Chansa after his stint with Zambian champions

Zanaco FC Zanaco FC is a Zambian football (soccer), football club based in Lusaka that plays in the Zambian Premier League, MTN/FAZ Super Division. They play their home games at Sunset Stadium in Lusaka. Zanaco Football Club was formed in 1972 as a social ...

, returned to South Africa to reunite with Royal Eagles F.C. coach Kosta Papic. The Serbian manager was at the helm at Pirates during Chansa's first stint with ''"the Bucaneers"'' from 2004 to 2007. "Chansa is already training with the club and has signed but is waiting the issuing of his work permit", Papic told to kickoff.com on 8 March 2017. Eagles were chasing promotion this season and feel the experience of the Zambian midfielder helped them with that target.

International career

Chansa made his senior international debut for

on 1 May 2004 against

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 ...

in a 1–1 draw match, where he scored a goal. Chansa was part of the Zambian 2006 African Nations Cup team, which finished third in group C in the first round of competition, thus failing to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. Then he also represented his country in numerous

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

qualification matches alongside the main rounds of later

African Nations Cup The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

. Chansa's biggest achievement is winning the

for his country in February 2012, defeating

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. He was also part of the 2014 Zambia national team that took on

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in the Pre-World Cup International Friendly in the USA. Between 2004 and 2016, he earned 69 international caps, representing Zambia and scoring 3 goals.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Zambia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Zambia *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Orlando Pirates * MTN 8 Cuup:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12 *

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of gi ...

: 2011–12 Zanaco *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

*
Isaac Chansa transfers
at aiscore.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Chansa, Isaac 1984 births Living people Footballers from Kitwe Zambian men's footballers 21st-century Zambian sportsmen Zambian expatriate men's footballers Zambia men's international footballers 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Zambian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Zambian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in India Expatriate men's footballers in Iraq I-League players Indian Super League players Helsingborgs IF players Men's association football midfielders Orlando Pirates F.C. players Allsvenskan players Henan F.C. players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Zanaco F.C. players Shillong Lajong FC players NorthEast United FC players Chinese Super League players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players Forest Rangers F.C. players Zambia men's A' international footballers 2016 African Nations Championship players