THE NKANA OF 2014 – A RONALD ‘SATE-SATE ‘ KAMPAMBA STORY
By Aaron Mubanga Jnr | May 26, 2020
In 2013 Nkana finally won their 12th Zambia Super League title something that had been elusive for some time and the boy with shaggy hair from Wusakile a fan favorite, Ronald Kampamba nicknamed Sate-Sate or The Landlord was at the center of everything leading from the front with 18 goals winning his second Superleague golden boot having won his first the year before.
At this time Zambia had two slots for continental football and Nkana had booked a ticket into the big league, The mighty CAF Champions League. Nkana started their campaign with a preliminary fixture against Mbabane Swallows.
They traveled to Swaziland (Eswatini) for the first leg abs lost by two goals to nil and like always Zambian fans were skeptical and thought it was the end for Nkana but Kampamba and Simon Bwalya had other ideas in the return leg scoring a brace and a hatrick respectively to send Nkana to the next round with a 5-4 aggregate victory.
Next it was Kampala City Council who came knocking and Nkana started at home but only managed a 2-2 draw and Sate scored one of the goals. In Kampala Nkana came alive and managed a 2-1 victory with goals from midfielder Clyde Bwalya and Christopher Munthali and went through to the next round with a 4-3 aggregate scoreline.
However the road was cut short by Egyptian giants Zamalek who handed Nkana a 5-0 aggregate scoreline. Next the team from Kitwe dropped to the Confederation Cup and faced Club Athlétique Bizertin in the pre-group stage and they qualified on away goals rule after 1-1 aggregate scoreline.
Next up came the group stage and Nkana was handed a draw from hell being paired against Sewe Sport, Al Alhly, and Etoile Sportive du Sahel in group B. The first game was away to Al Ahly and Nkana lost by two goals to nil. They then hosted Sewe Sport at Chilata and managed to pick a point following a 1-1 draw. Sate Sate with the second-half equalizer.
Then came the second most disappointing fixture in the group when Nkana went to lose 4-3 away in Tunisia. The Red Side of Kitwe took the lead after 8 minutes thanks to an own goal by Abderrazak . Etoile equalized twelve minutes later from the spot. Evans ‘Kalulu’ Kangwa put them in the lead 10 minutes later.
Eight minutes into the second half Nkana conceded and Etoile was back on level terms. Ronald Kampamba took things personally and went on a beautiful run before winning a penalty which was converted to put Nkana in the lead however as Sate Sate was being treated outside Etoile equalized just a minute later and scored the winner five minutes later.
With only a point after three games things could have not looked bad for Nkana returned the favor to Etoile beating them by an identical scoreline at home picking up their first maximum points in the competition. Sate Sate, Festus Mbewe, Simon Bwalya scored a goal each.
Nkana then hosted Al Ahly and Billy Mwanza scored the whole important goal from the spot to take them to second on the log with 7 points however disaster struck on the final day as Nkana were hammered 3-0 on the final matchday by Sewe Sport to fail to progress.
The LandLord ended 2014 with 20 goals
Zambia Superleague – 14 goals (one shy of top goalscorer Jackson Mwanza )
CAF CL : 3 goals
CAF CC: 2 goals
Barclays Cup: 1