Harrison "Wawa" Chongo (5 June 1969 – 12 May 2011) was a Zambia international football player who played in central defence or as a defensive midfielder.

Personal information
Date of birth (1969-06-05)5 June 1969
Place of birth Mufulira, Zambia
Date of death 12 May 2011(2011-05-12) (aged 41)
Place of death Mufulira, Zambia
Position(s) Defender or Defensive midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1992 Mufulira Wanderers
1992–2002 Al Taawon
International career
1992–1998 Zambia 13
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

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Born in Lusaka, Chongo began playing club football Mufulira Wanderers F.C., breaking into the first team in 1989. In 1992, he joined Al Taawon Club in the Saudi First Division, where he played until he retired.[1][2]

Chongo was included in the Zambia national football team that reached the final for the 1994 African Nations Cup.[3] He also played in 11 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.[4] and Wawa is regarded as the first Zambian footballer ever to have played professional football for Arabs for a decade in Saudi Arabia and once attended trials for 2 English premier league side Crystal Palace and Barnsley FC after assisting his Saudi-based club Al-Tawoon for winning promotion to Saudi professional league this time as champions for the first time ever in 1996/97 season, he impressed during the trials in England in 1997 despite being overpriced as their defense kingpin and the deal fell through. Nevertheless, he achieved so much and made a second coming for his childhood team Mufulira Wanderers to wrap up his playing career in 2002 as coach player and became appointed as interim coach in 2010 and helped the team survive relegation from sinking into division 2. At the start of the 2011 season he was given a go-ahead as a head coach for the first time and managed to run the 8-game unbeaten race despite death cutting short his dream for bouncing "mighty" to the super league.

Personal

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He died in May 2011 of malaria. At the time of his death he was head coach of Mufulira Wanderers.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Wawa put to rest". Lusaka Times. 16 May 2011.
  2. ^ "Harrison Chongo". Footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
  3. ^ Courtney, Barrie. "African Nations Cup 1994 – Final Tournament Details". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  4. ^ Harrison ChongoFIFA competition record (archived)
  5. ^ Gondwe, Kennedy (13 May 2011). "Zambia mourns the death of Harrison Chongo". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
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