Nathan Sinkala (born 22 November 1990) is a Zambian 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

ZESCO United ZESCO United Football Club (simply often known as ZESCO) is a Zambian professional football club based in Ndola, that competes in the Zambia Super League. Founded in 1974, the team plays its home matches at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium. The club i ...

and the Zambia national team.

Club career

Green Buffaloes

Born in

Chingola Chingola is a town in Zambia's Copperbelt Province, the country's copper-mining region, with a population of 256,560 (2022 census). It is the home of Nchanga Copper Mine, a deep-shaft high-grade content copper mining operation, which subsequen ...

, Sinkala began his career in 2008 with Green Buffaloes, and spent a loan spell in Israel with Hapoel Kiryat Shmona during 2009, playing for their reserve team. At Green Buffaloes, Sinkala scored three leagues goal during the 2009 season, and two league goals during the 2010 season. He also won the

Zambian Charity Shield The Zambian Charity Shield officially called Samuel ‘Zoom’ Ndhlovu Charity Shield since 2003 is a season opener match between the champions of the previous Super League season and the holders of the ABSA Cup. If the Super League champions al ...

in 2010.

TP Mazembe and loans

After participating at the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (C ...

, Sinkala signed for

TP Mazembe Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional association football, football club based in Lubumbashi. History Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a ...

on a three-year deal. On 8 January 2014, Sinkala joined French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side Sochaux-Montbéliard on a loan deal. He later stated that he wished to remain with the club following the end of the loan deal. On 7 July 2014, Sinkala was loaned again from Mazembe, this time to

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

side

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

Stellenbosch

In January 2020, he moved to

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

Zambia

In December 2022 he was reported as signing a six-month deal with SC Kfar Kasem in Israel. However, he returned to Zambia and

in January 2023.

International career

Sinkala made his international debut for

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 ...

in 2011, and participated at the

. He was called up to Zambia's 23-man squad for the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange S.A., Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the Association football, footbal ...

. In October 2013, due to a disagreement between their club TP Mazembe and the Zambian Football Association over international call-ups, Sinkala and two other players ( Rainford Kalaba and Stoppila Sunzu) were the subject of a Zambian arrest warrant. All three players later had their passports confiscated by Zambian immigration authorities, before being pardoned by the Zambian government. In December 2014 he was named as part of Zambia's preliminary squad for the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was org ...

. He was injured in his country's opening game in the tournament.

Personal life

He is the younger brother of Andrew Sinkala.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Zambia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sinkala goal.''

References

1990 births Living people People from Chingola Men's association football midfielders Zambian men's footballers 21st-century Zambian sportsmen Zambia men's international footballers CAF Champions League–winning players Ligue 2 players Swiss Super League players Green Buffaloes F.C. players TP Mazembe players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Grasshopper Club Zurich players Stellenbosch F.C. players ZESCO United F.C. players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Zambian expatriate men's footballers Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Zambian expatriate sportspeople in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Expatriate men's footballers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Zambian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Zambian expatriates in South Africa Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa {{Zambia-footy-bio-stub