From being banned at COSAFA, two loan spells to scoring goals for Green Buffaloes – The story of Nicholas Mulilo

Born in a family of three, two boys and one girl, and him being the firstborn in the family means more responsibilities for a boy who grew up in the typical rural part of Mapatizya found in the Zimba district.

Nicolas Mulilo attended his early education at Mapatizya primary school after which he went to St Marks’s mission school where he completed his secondary education.

What separates talented individuals from successful ones is a lot of hard work, after making a name for himself among his local friends with plastic made football (Ichimpombwa) but Mulilo wanted to try his football exploits on a different level by joining his first well established amateur club blackpool academy now called Musport of Choma district.

The ZamFoot Crew caught up with Mulilo to talk about his career and when asked why he wanted to play football and not chose any other path, Mulilo said it was something he was born to do.

“It was something I was born with, I was born to be a footballer,” he said

His football skills at Blackpool Academy earned him a loan move in the second half of his first stint at the academy to power stars a division three side by then where his deadliest scoring prowess came to the life as he scored a record 16 goals in half a season, a haul which attracted ZESCO Vic falls a feeder club for the reigning MTN/FAZ Super Champions in Zesco United in a permanent deal.

His brilliance and fanatic touch in front of goal made him just spend a season at the Provincial Division outfit as he was lured to Zega Mambo of the friendly city of Zambia, Ndola.

“In 2017 ZESCO United requested the five of us to go for assessment, by the grace of God I was one of those who were picked and I signed a three-year contract with them,” Mulilo told the ZamFoot Crew in an interview.

Due to stiff competition in the ZESCO United squad by then, Nicholas Mulilo was loaned to Kabwe Warriors in a season-long deal with the remainder of his two years spending it at Forest Rangers.

Having impressed at both super league clubs, Green Buffaloes didn’t hesitate to go for his signature upon expiration of his three-year contract at ZESCO United.

At Green Buffaloes, Mulilo has been a formidable member of the army-sponsored squad as he is regarded to be part of integral chemistry of the team.

This season has been a tough one for Nicholas Mulilo and his team as they have been pushed back and forth in pursuit of super league survival.

They spent the first half of the season in the bottom half of the league and the relegation waters though things have changed in the second stanza of the season as they now at least can dream of playing CAF competition next season if they can win their remaining two games.

“I still believe it’s just up to us to collect maximum points in the two games remaining because in football anything is possible and in the first half of the season I think our poor form can be attributed to lack of confidence.”

At the army sponsored side, Nicholas Mulilo has had to change positions from the main striker to the second striker role playing behind Friday Samu who has been in scintillating form this season as he is second on the MTN/FAZ super league top scorers chart with 14 goals and only Moses Phiri 17 has scored more.

“I think playing with him gives me a lot of competition because he is the top striker, he scores almost every game and makes me work hard and I enjoy playing with him,” he said.

Mulilo was part of Zambia under 17 which took part in the 2016 Cosafa tournament in Mauritius though the campaign ended in an unfortunate ban for the team and Mulilo.

Mulilo was banned from competing in all COSAFA competitions for two years after failing a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test but the boy from Zimba has bounced back with a bang especially at Buffaloes.

Football is about having dreams and creating fond memories, when asked about his best football moment and where he wants to be in the near future, Nicholas had this to say:

My best football moment so far was when I scored my first goal in the super league when I was with Kabwe Warriors in a game against Nkwazi which ended in a two-all draw and my dream is to play outside Zambia.

Mulilo has scored five goals for the Soldiers this season with an assist to his credit.

Green buffaloes have a trip away to kitwe united before pulling the curtain on the 2020/2021 season with a home date against Prison Leopards.