Zambia: Premier League Nations

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90 Minutes At A Time

·13 September 2020

Zambia: Premier League Nations

The penultimate destination of our alphabetical world tour is Zambia. According to the Premier League website, three Zambians have appeared in the Premier League over the years, all strikers.

First Player – Neil Gregory (Ipswich Town; 1992-95)

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With three appearances during Ipswich Town’s doomed campaign in 1994/95, Neil Gregory became the first Zambian to feature in the Premier League.

His top-flight league debut came from the start in a 2-2 draw with Wimbledon, with two substitute appearances later in the season as Ipswich won the ignominious honour of finishing 22nd in the final campaign before the Premier League was reduced to 20 teams.

Gregory stayed at Ipswich until 1998, making appearances between several loan spells before joining Colchester on a permanent basis. He never won a cap for Zambia.

Records

Most appearances – Emmanuel Mayuka (16)
First appearance – Neil Gregory (IPSWICH 2-2 Wimbledon, December 16th 1994)
Most goals – None
First goal – N/A

Other Players

The second Zambian to play in the Premier League was Collins Mbesuma, who made four appearances for Portsmouth in 2005/06. The third and final Zambian to appear in the Premier League was Emmanuel Mayuka, who made 16 league appearances for Southampton between 2012 and 2015.

Trivia

Collins Mbesuma is the sixth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Zambia national team (22 goals).
Zambia were the fourth African nation to be represented in the Premier League, after Zimbabwe, Nigeria and South Africa.
Though all three Zambians to feature in the Premier League were forwards, none of them scored a Premier League goal.