Godfrey Chitalu (October 22, 1947 in Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia – April 27, 1993 in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Gabon) was a Zambian footballer who is widely regarded as the greatest Zambian player ever as he holds his national team scoring record and was voted Zambian footballer of the year five times. As well, he was selected by CAF as one of the best 200 African footballers of the past 50 years in 2006.
He is also famous for holding a world record of 107 goals scored in the season 1972. However, Zambian researchers found out they were actually 116 throughout the calendar year. This includes 15 goals in CAF competitions, 91 goals in FAZ tournaments, 5 goals in friendly games, 3 goals in the NFL Trophy and 2 goals in the NFL Benevolent Fund Match. The research was presented in the year 2012 after Lionel Messi broke the alleged world record of Gerd Müller. Nevertheless, a FIFA spokesman declared that an official FIFA world record had never existed as they did not keep track of domestic competitions.
Upon retirement, Chitalu took to coaching and was in charge of the Zambia national team when the entire squad perished in a plane crash off the coast of Gabon on April 27, 1993.
Read more about Godfrey Chitalu: Early Life, Goal Record Challenge, International Career, Coaching Career, Personal Life, Death
Famous quotes containing the word godfrey:
“The I’m-going-to-win-no-matter-how-I-have-to-do-it attitude just doesn’t seem to fit. For me, a contest isn’t a success unless it was fun, whether or not I win.”
—Margo Godfrey Oberg (b. c. 1955)