Nyasha Liberty Mushekwi (born 21 August 1987) is a Zimbabwean 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

club, Dalian K'un City.

Career

Born in

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, Mushekwi started out playing for CAPS United in his homeland Zimbabwe. He won the top scorer award after scoring 21 league goals for the Harare giants in 2009 season. In 2010, he made the move to South African club

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

where he found immediate success when he became the second best goalscorer of the

2010–11 Premier Soccer League 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 ...

season. In April 2013, as his contract was nearing its end, Mamelodi Sundowns extended the deal with another year plus an option for an additional second year. For the 2013–14 season, Mushekwi was sent on loan to Belgian club

K.V. Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, was a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Ostend, West Flanders. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and had Football in Belgium#Matr ...

, but in February 2014 he suffered an injury from which he did not recover until November. Since his South African club had already used all its foreign player slots for the season, he could not be registered to play for them once he had recovered from injury. In an effort to find a new club in 2015, Mushekwi went on trial with

Hobro IK Hobro Idræts Klub (), commonly referred to as Hobro IK or HIK, is a professional football club based in Hobro, Denmark. The club currently competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of the Danish football league system, and plays its h ...

in Denmark. However, he signed with Swedish club

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

, which contacted him while he was in Denmark and brought him to Sweden for a trial, resulting in a 6-month loan deal.

China

On 22 December 2015, Mushekwi transferred to

side Dalian Yifang. He was the top goal scorer in the team for 3 consecutive seasons. However, he suffered a few serious injuries later, from which his physical condition was affected. In the 2017 season, he was once tackled brutally in the right leg, but volunteered to stay on the pitch, and scored an important goal. He eventually helped Yifang win the League One title. In 2018, he was not the preferred player at first competing with

Nicolás Gaitán Osvaldo Fabián Nicolás "Nico" Gaitán (; born 23 February 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger. A product of Boca Juniors, he joined Benfica in Portugal, where he won three Primeira Lig ...

and

Yannick Carrasco Yannick Ferreira Carrasco (born 4 September 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays for Saudi Pro League club Al-Shabab and the Belgium national team. A versatile player, Carrasco can be deployed as a left midfielder, left wing-b ...

, but he won a position by continuous goals. He had pelvis injuries during the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. Again he tried to stay in the game after a heavy collision in the head with opponent goalkeeper. Overall, his strong spirit gained high reputation among local fans, and was regarded as one of the most important players in team history. In the 2019 season, his performance was below expectation after the surgery. On 15 July 2019, Mushekwi joined China League One side

Zhejiang Greentown Zhejiang Professional Football Club (), commonly referred to as Zhejiang FC or simply Zhejiang and currently known as Zhejiang F.C. Greentown () for sponsorship reasons, is a Chinese professional football club based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, that co ...

. He would play a vital part as the club gained promotion to the top tier at the end of the 2021 campaign. On 1 March 2024, Mushekwi joined

club

Yunnan Yukun Yunnan Yukun Football Club () is a Chinese professional Association football, football club based in Yuxi, Yunnan, that competes in . Yunnan Yukun plays its home matches at the Yuxi Plateau Sports Center Stadium, located within Hongta District. ...

. On 27 December 2024, Mushekwi joined to fellow China League One club, Dalian K'un City from 2025 season.

International career

Mushekwi is a member of 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 ...

. He was involved in the Asiagate scandal but avoided a lifetime ban from international football after volunteering information in the investigation.

Personal life

Mushekwi attended Churchill School where his main sport was

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. He was voted the most valuable player of the Mashonaland Basketball Association League and represented Zimbabwe at under-19 and senior national team level in the sport.

Career statistics

International

. ''Scores and results list Zimbabwe's goal tally first.''

Honours

Dalian Yifang *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Yunnan Yukun *China League One:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual *

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 ...

top scorer: 2009

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mushekwi, Nyasha 1987 births Living people Alumni of Churchill School (Harare) Zimbabwean men's footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Harare Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players CAPS United players K.V. Oostende players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Dalian Professional F.C. players Zhejiang Professional F.C. players Yunnan Yukun F.C. players Dalian K'un City F.C. players South African Premier Division players Belgian Pro League players Allsvenskan players Chinese Super League players China League One players Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in China 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Zimbabwe men's international footballers Zimbabwean expatriate men's footballers Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Zimbabwean men's basketball players