Ben Bamfuchile

Bamfuchile started out by playing for youth teams Chamboli and Luanshiba in Kitwe before joining Nkana Red Devils then known as Rhokana United in 1977. He made his debut for Nkana that same year at right-back in a match against Green Buffaloes in Lusaka which Nkana lost 2–1. According to Bamfuchile, he found it hard to cope with the pace and faked an injury in the 2nd minute but was quickly forced back on by the coaching bench. For some unclear reason, Bamfuchile was known as Ben Pabili when he was a defender at Nkana alongside players like Jericho Shinde, Fighton Simukonda, Kapambwe Mulenga and Michael Chabala. He scored a career three goals for Nkana and was part of the great Devils team that dominated Zambian league soccer in the 80s and early 90s winning a record 11 titles including 1983 when they finished the season without losing a single league game. Bamfuchile also made a handful of appearances for the national team and was part of the victorious squad that won the 1984 Confederation of East & Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) Cup in Uganda though he was not a regular as he fell behind other defenders such as Jones Chilengi, John 'Butcher' Mwanza and Fighton Simukonda. Pabili made another appearance at the CECAFA the following year in Zimbabwe where Zambia failed to defend their title and he scored a goal in Zambia's 2–2 draw with Malawi. While in his prime, Bamfuchile was at the age of 29 asked by the Nkana management team to stop playing football and…

Bamfuchile began his coaching career in 1990 as an assistant under Simwala, the man he described as his mentor. When Simwala died in 1992, Bamfuchile took over as head coach and went about purging the older players who were living on past glory. The Red Devils changed their name to Nkana Football Club and swept almost all the silverware that year. He later left Nkana and coached in Swaziland and South Africa but later returned to coach Power Dynamos. After Zambia's disastrous CAN 1998 outing in Burkina Faso where coach Bukhard Ziese was 'suspended' and George Mungwa was installed as caretaker coach for Zambia's final group game but he expressed no interest in having the job on a permanent basis. Obby Kapita took charge for 3 games and then Fighton Simukonda also coached the team on a temporary basis for 5 games, winning that year's COSAFA cup with a 1–0 victory in Zimbabwe. Simukonda was however brought down to earth when Zambia drew their opening CAN 2000 qualification game with a 1–1 draw with Congo DR in Lusaka. FAZ then appointed Bamfuchile as coach and Zambia won all the remaining games, including a 1–0 victory away to Congo DR where Zambia had never won before, finishing the qualifiers with the best record in Africa. Bamfuchile also took charge of the U-23 team during the All Africa Games in Johannesburg in 1999, losing the first game 4–1 to Cameroun but recovering to reach the final where they lost to Cameroun again but this time on penalties after a goalless draw and…