Breaking: Jack Chamangwana dead

Be Forward Wanderers Technical Director Jack Chamangwana died on Sunday evening, a week after being admitted at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH).

The ex-Malawi captain, 61, had been ill for quite sometime and he eventually passed on just months after losing his nephew George Chamangwana.

According to reports, the former Wanderers, Flames and Chiefs defender got admitted at QECH after suffering from high blood pressure.

Nicknamed ‘Africa’, Chamangwana was the second Flames most capped player with 133 appearances from which he started all the matches and he was never a substitute.

He made his debut against Kenya in an international friendly match on 10th July 1975 at the age of 18.

From 1975 to 1977, the late Africa Chamangwana made 28 appearances for the Flames and scored his first ever goal against Botswana.

His 100th appearance for the senior team came in 1982 when Malawi won 2-0 against Zimbabwe in the African Cup of Nations qualifier.

In 1984, Chamangwana overtook Kinnah Phiri as the most capped player during Malawi’s first ever appearance at the Afcon finals but his record only lasted for 7 years as he was surpassed by Young Chimodzi who is the most capped player for the senior team.

Chamangwana’s Flames career saw him playing under 7 different coaches and he was the only player to have appeared in four cup finals of the Eastern and Central African Senior Challenge Cup (ECASCC) beginning from 1975 to 1984 when he appeared in his fourth final.

His Flames last match was on 16th April 1985 in Maputo against Mozambique where Malawi lost 6-5 on penalties following a 1-1 aggregate from the two matches.

In 1986, the late Chamangwana left for South Africa where he played for the country’s most successful club, Kaizer Chiefs before becoming the coach in 1988 and 1989. He also coached Young Africans of Tanzania in 2006.

He was then given the Flames job in 1998 but got fired following poor run of results as he only registered a single win in 13 games from which 6 of the games ended in draws.

He was part of the Flames technical team at the 2010 Afcon in Angola.

He was again employed by the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) in 2009 to 2013 as the Technical Director.

From 2014 to 2015, Africa Chamangwana served as Flames assistant coach under Young Chimodzi before being named caretaker coach for Wanderers FC.

He was then replaced by Yasin Osman as the Nomads head coach as he was named Technical Director.

Details of his burial arrangements will be announced later.