Fighton Simukonda

Simukonda was born in Chingola where he started his football career with Division II side Mimbula Diggers as a defender. He later moved to Diggers' town mates KB Davies FC, another Division II team. Standing at over six feet tall, he was a commanding presence in defence and in 1980, was recruited by Division I side Vitafoam United where he lined up with players like Ronald Mkandawire, Lackson Chanda, Michael Chabala and Boniface 'Killer' Chanda. The following season, Simukonda captained Vitafoam to a 2–1 Independence Cup final victory over Strike Rovers. In 1982, Vitafoam proprietor Abram Mokola decided to give some senior players the opportunity to acquire coaching skills so Simukonda was one of five who were sponsored for a coaching course in England in March of that year. His fine defensive play caught the attention of Kitwe giants who signed him soon after his return from England and Vitafoam claimed he had breached his contract with them. The contract dispute kept him out of action for almost four months until the two teams agreed a compensation package. Shortly after he joined Nkana, head coach Moses Simwala was suspended. Simukonda took charge of the team but he informed the club's management that while he was equal to the task, he was still an active player so Nkana great Stone Chibwe was brought in to hold fort. Credited with developing a tackle called the 'Chitemene system' after the slash and burn method of preparing fields in Northern Zambia, Simukonda won his…

Simukonda made his national team debut in October 1983 in an Olympic Games qualifier against Egypt in Lusaka which Zambia won 1–0 courtesy of a Peter Kaumba strike. From then on, he was a regular in the Zambian defence and was part of the team that won the country's first ever CECAFA Cup in Uganda in 1984 under Brightwell Banda. Simukonda was in the Zambian team that defeated Cameroon 4–1 in a World Cup qualifier in Lusaka in April 1985 but missed out on the second leg as Banda preferred a central defensive pairing of Jones Chilengi and John "Butcher" Mwanza, which stood firm in a 1–1 draw. He was left out of Zambia's CAN 1986 squad but made a comeback in December 1986 when he captained the team to a 1–0 win over Angola to lift the MPLA trophy in Luanda. He continued as captain when Samuel Ndhlovu took over as coach the following year and was in the Zambian team that pulled off a 2–1 aggregate win over Ghana to qualify to the Seoul Olympic Games. The suspension of Zambia for pulling out of hosting the 1988 CAN finals saw Simukonda missing another tournament and as the Olympic Games approached, the central defensive pairing of captain Simukonda and his deputy Ashols Melu came in for some criticism, particularly when Zambia were beaten 4–0 by South Korea at the President's Cup tournament. This led to Simukonda being dropped for Zambia's dead rubber match against the Italian U-21 side. The game against South Korea turned out to be his last game for his country so it meant…

Simukonda took up coaching duties at Darkies in 1992 thanks to the course he had attended ten years prior to that. He made history when he took charge for part of the 1992 season with Darkies, managing a single win in 42 matches, conceding 122 goals in the process, which gave him the record of the worst coach in South African football history. His dismissal at Darkies coincided with the re-admission of South Africa to the international fold so Simukonda returned to Zambia in 1992 and joined Roan United as assistant to Fordson Kabole, the man Simukonda describes as his mentor and when Kabole left Roan the following season to join Kabwe Warriors, Simukonda took over as head coach. Roan controversially lost to Mufulira Wanderers 4–0 in the 1994 final of the BP Top 8 Cup after conceding what looked like a couple of offside goals but they won the Mosi Cup and finished fourth on the log. He avenged Roan's defeat to Wanderers by beating the Mufulira side 3–0 in the following year's BP Top 8 Final and regained the Mosi Cup in 1996. He was one of the assistant coaches at CAN 1998 where Zambia were knocked out in the first round and took charge of Zambia on an interim basis in 1998 and retained the COSAFA Cup but stepped down when Zambia drew their first CAN 2000 qualifier 1–1 against Congo DR in Lusaka. After a patchy run of form early in the 1999 season, Simukonda was given a four-match ultimatum to start winning, beginning with Roan's ninth league game of the season, which ended in…

As a player

Zambian League Title: 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988 Zambian Charity Shield: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989 Independence Cup: 1981, 1986 Heinrich Cup/Chibuku Cup/Heroes & Unity Cup: 1983 Champion of Champions: 1986 Zambia

CECAFA Cup: 1984 MPLA Trophy: 1986

As a coach

Zambian Premier League: 2005, 2006, 2010 Mosi Cup: 1994, 1996 BP Top 8: 1995, 2008 Coca-Cola Cup: 2004 Barclays Cup: 2004, 2010 Charity Shield: 2006, 2011 COSAFA Cup: 1998

Individual

Zambian Coach of the Year: 2005, 2009, 2010