THE HISTORY AND THE PRESENT OF MUFULIRA WANDERERS

A LONG WAIT FOR ANOTHER TROPHY
They are called the legendary cup fighters, the kings of cup tournament in the history of the Zambian game. Mighty Mufulira wanderers, a team honoured with rich history of both players and coaches and the team is back in the limelight hoping to continue where they left from in 1996 when they won their last league title.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MUFULIRA WANDERERS
SUPER LEAGUE
Mufulira Wanderers are second from Nkana Red Devils in the number of league titles in the 56 year old Super League since it’s inception in 1962. Mighty first won the prestigious league title in 1963 but their best run was from 1965 to 1967 when they won it three times in a roll becoming the first team to have that record and it is still joint record held by Nkana and Kabwe Warriors. Mighty failed to go four times on the bounce when they gave it up to Kabwe Warriors but it would only be a break for a year as the Mufulira outfit came back in 1969 to win their fifth league title.
Other teams especially Kabwe Warriors would then dominate from 1970 and Mighty was made to wait until 1976 when they grabbed their sixth making the team the most successful team at that time with the LEAGUE HONOURS. This time it wouldnt take them that long to grab the seventh away from Green Buffaloes in 1978.
After 1978 Mighty Mufulira Wanderers would then be on the back foot and allow Nkana to overtake their record and succumb to second spot. This period also gave rise to teams like Power Dynamos but Nkana was at its pick over shadowing what Mighty had achieved in the Super League.

Mighty would only come back strong in 1995 and 1996 the years they won the league back to back to add their 8th and 9th league title’s. That would send the team into oblivion and sit on the back foot to watch other teams enjoy the Super league.

OTHER HONOURS
Castle Cup
This trophy changed names from Castle Cup introduced in 1961 to Independence Cup introduced in 1975 and finally changed to Mosi Cup in 1993. The total number of titles that remain in the history of this cup tournament are 47 and the Legendary Cup fighters in Mighty Mufulira wanderers are the record holders with 9 titles won in:
1965 Mufulira Wanderers 5-2 City of Lusaka [after extra time)
1966 Mufulira Wanderers 4-2 Broken Hill
Mighty also won it in 1968 and 1971 when they beat Kitwe United 6-1 in the final.
Before the tournament changed its name to Independence Cup Mighty Mufulira Wanderers had two more titles in 1973 and 1974 beating Button Western Tigers and Rhokana United respectively.
In 1975 in the new Independence Cup Mighty would then continue with its exploits defeating Green Buffaloes in the final 2-1 to win the title for the seventh time.
After 1976 to 1988 Mufulira Wanderers played three finals, losing two to Roan United and Nchanga Rangers and winning one in 1988 against Kabwe Warriors.
The tournament would then change its name from independence Cup to Mosi Cup in 1993 and Mufulira Wanderers would only win the new Mosi Cup once in 1995 when they did a double with the super league title
The tournament ended in 2007.
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BP Top Eight Cup
Perhaps this is one cup game Mighty Mufulira wanderers enjoyed playing into and again the record holders of 9 titles in the 47 titles to it’s name. The tournament was also called Challenge Cup in its earlier edition.
Apart from the nine titles Mighty also played in the other four finals which they lost to Nchanga Rangers (1965), Green Buffaloes (1975), Nkana (1992) and Roan United in 1995 when they failed to get a treble after winning the league and MosI Cup in the same year. Roan United won that game 3-0.

The nine titles were in 1967 to 1969 while the other six are as stated below with their score lines in the final:
1978 Mufulira Wanderers 2-1 Red Arrows
1984 Mufulira Wanderers 2-0 ZESCO United
1986 Mufulira Wanderers 2-1 Nkana
1994 Mufulira Wanderers 4-0 Roan United
1996 Mufulira Wanderers 4-3 Zamsure
1997 Mufulira Wanderers 3-0 Zamsure
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OTHER HONOURS
Champions of Champions
Mufulira Wanderers won this title 7 times which was usually between 4 teams (trophy winners of previous season and best league finishers for remaining places) and it was sponsored by different companies which included Cadbury Schweppes 1974-1975, State Lottery 1976-78 and Zambia Railways 1979).
The teams which succumbed to mighty in the finals included Mufulira Blackpool(1974), Ndola United ( 1976), Green Buffaloes (1977) and Roan United,(1978).
The last three were in 1985,1988 and 1992
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The rest of the titles that Mighty Mufulira wanderers have are four Charity Shields , seven Heinrich Cup which was later called Chibuku Cup and Heroes and Unity Cup.
They also managed to get one Inter-Rhodesia Castle Cup in 1965.
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UNSUCCESSFUL CUP GAMES
With all success of this team in the number of trophies collected there are also trophies that have eluded this great team of Zambia and these are Coca Cola Cup where they only managed to play one final and lost to Zanaco in 2001 via a 1-0 score line.

The teamm has also been unsuccessful in the Barclays Cup introduced in 2007 and the last time they participated was during the 2015 edition at the quatre final stage were they were eliminated by Nkwazi via penalty shoot outs at Nkoloma Stadium.
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FUTURE PROSPECTS
Mufulira Wanderers are back in the elite Super League and the team should be proud of what they achieved in the first season in the Super league after that long period in division one.
Mighty finished fifth in the MTN super League winning 13 games seven at home and 6 away, drawing 7 games, 4 at home and 3 away and lost 10 4 at home and 6 away.
The team scored 31 goals 16 at home and 15 away but the negative was on the goals conceded which reads a total of 32, 13 at home and 19 away. (Note that three goals were given to Zesco United after the abandoned game at the home of Mufulira wanderers)
It was a successful season and the challenge the team has is to keep hold of the players that were exceptional in the 2015 season with news that one of their influential midfielder in Jacob Ngulube has been signed by their rivals in Nkana FC.
Mighty has not been very active in the transfer window so far the situation that has brought unrest among the most passionate fans in Zambia who are hoping the Exco will be proactive as the transfer window is coming to a close.

MY VERDICT: It will be difficult for Mighty to compete for the title in 2016 season especially looking at how active their competitors have been from the close of the season and the team will even struggle to better the fifth position they managed last season if they don’t strengthen the team with this little time remaining before the season kicks off.
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A Glimpse in the past!!!!
It was a great team with great players in the past but football looks to have shifted to Ndola were Zesco looks to be dictating who wins the titles.
some of the great players to have put this team on the map include the following:

Benjamin Bwalya
Johnson Bwalya
Kalusha Bwalya
Efford Chabala
Dick Chama
Bernard Chanda
Harrison Chongo
Frederick Kashimoto
Evans Katebe
Dickson Makwaza
Gibby Mbasela
Ashious Melu
Ackim Musenge
Dickson Makwaza
Charles Musonda
Tolomeo Mwansa
Samuel Ndhlovu
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ALL THE BEST MIGHTY MUFULIRA IN 2016