Jani Simulambo

Nicknamed Be Good, Simulambo had an outstanding career and played at the heart of Zambia’s midfield for close to ten years, representing the country at the 1974 and 1978 African Cup of Nations and was named Zambian captain in 1980.

[2][3] At Tigers, Simulambo formed a good partnership with Stanley Phiri, Leonard Mwiinde and Joseph Njuka and in his first season, the team finished in a comfortable mid-table position.

The team, which would later change its name to Green Buffaloes, had the likes of Dick Chama, Obby Kapita, Milton Muke, Francis Kajiya, Emmy Musonda, Felix Chalwe, Donwell Yobe and Pele Kaimana, and was a force to reckon with, winning the league three times in a row including 1974 when they ended the season unbeaten.

[5] He joined Kabwe Warriors and scored twice on his debut, a 3–1 win over Mufulira Wanderers in a league match on 1 October 1980, which came about two weeks after leaving the army.

Simulambo also opened the way for his former teammates at Profund Warriors Texan Phiri, Ronald Chinku, Fred Kunda and Chola Mulundu to play in Swaziland.

He featured for the ‘B’ side again at ECA 1973 in Uganda as well as World Cup qualifiers against Zaire and Morocco and did enough to get a call-up to the CAN squad where he played in all the matches as Zambia went all the way to the final.

[2] It was during this period that he joined the Bay United Technical bench headed by Vladislav Heric and helped the team win promotion to the PSL.

But when the team was demoted the following season, Simulambo was put in charge of the developmental side where he trained his three sons, Desmond, Brazil and Sizwe.