David Efford Chabala (February 2, 1960 - April 28, 1993), popularly known as Efford Chabala was Zambia's first choice goalkeeper from 1983 until his death in a plane crash off the Gabonese coast in 1993 and is probably Zambia’s most capped player, an achievement which has often been attributed to Kalusha Bwalya, his former team mate at club and national level.
Chabala first established himself in the club side Mufulira Wanderers before succeeding Ghost Mulenga as number one in the Zambian goal. He was instrumental in Zambia's first-ever cup success when he saved three penalties in Zambia's 3-0 penalty victory over Malawi at the 1984 East and Central Africa Challenge Cup final after a goalless draw at full-time. The following year, Chabala was named Zambia’s Sportsman of the Year.
He remained Zambia's first choice goalkeeper until his death in the plane crash that killed almost the entire Zambia national football team off the coast of Gabon on April 28, 1993. Chabala's club career was predominantly at Mufulira Wanderers but he had a brief spell in Argentina with Argentinos Juniors during the 1991/92 season.
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Born in Mufulira, Chabala played football as a striker during his childhood but was one day asked to play in goal when his team didn’t have a goalkeeper in a pick-up game and he played so well that he developed an inclination towards goalkeeping. He played for Lubuto Amateur football club before he was discovered by the Mufulira Wanderers youth development scheme. His assured performances between the posts were soon noticed by national team selectors leading to his first appearance in national colours on 27 November 1980 for the Zambia ‘B’ team in a Confederation of Eastern and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) 3rd and 4th play-off game against Malawi which Zambia lost 1-0. However, his full international debut was to come on 9 October 1983 in an Olympic Games qualifier against Egypt in Lusaka, which was won 1-0 by the home side. From then on, Chabala was a permanent fixture in the Zambian goal for the better part of the next 10 years.
Chabala manned goal for the Wanderers side which also featured other top players like Ashious Melu, Kalusha Bwalya, Frederick Kashimoto, brothers Philemon Kaunda and Philemon Mulala, and later Charles Musonda and Johnson Bwalya. This Wanderers side dominated Zambian cup competitions during the eighties and early nineties, earning the tag ‘legendary cup fighters.’ However, Wanderers never managed to win the Zambian league title during this period.
In 1991/92, Chabala had a short-lived career with Argentinos Juniors but returned to Wanderers after a season.[1]
As Zambian goalkeeper, Chabala led his team to the 1984 CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup when he saved 3 penalties in the 3-0 penalty shoot-out win against Malawi after a goalless draw in normal time. Chabala was in goal for Zambia in their ill-fated attempt at winning the African Cup of Nations in 1986 where Zambia was knocked out in the group stages.
Chabala’s heroics against Ghana in 1987 during an Olympic Games qualifier helped secure Zambia a slot at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Zambia had won their home leg 2-0 and travelled to Accra with the home fans expecting their team to carry the day. Ghana attacked from the word go, throwing everything at the Zambians who despite conceding a first half goal by Tony Yeboah, held on to qualify 2-1 on aggregate with man-of-the-match Chabala pulling out all the stops, including saving a penalty from Emmanuel Quashie.
After the game, the Ghanaian goalkeeper ran over to Chabala and asked him what his secret was and Chabala’s bemba reply became legendary in Zambian football circles - “Kuiposafye (You just have to throw yourself).”
At the Olympic Games, Zambia recorded some impressive results with Charles Musonda pulling the strings in midfield and Kalusha Bwalya in devastating form, drawing with Iraq 2-2 and brushing aside Italy and Guatemala by 4-0 scorelines and became the first African country to make the quarter finals of the Olympic Games soccer tournament. However, disaster struck in the quarter final match against West Germany when Zambia was trounced 4-0, with Jurgen Klinsmann in fine form. In that game, Chabala who was a good organiser was heard organising his players during a corner “tiyeni bane, umutali pa mutali (Let’s go guys, tall ones take on the tall ones).”
Despite that disappointment, many in Zambia believed the team finally had the quality players to make it to the 1990 World Cup in Italy. After winning all their home games, Zambia failed to get a result away from home and did not qualify for the World Cup.
Chabala made another appearance at the 1990 African Cup of Nations where he was voted the best goalkeeper at the tournament, keeping four clean sheets in five games and helping Zambia to third place. His last appearance at the Nations Cup was in 1992 in Senegal where Zambia yet again underachieved, falling 1-0 to eventual winners Ivory Coast in extra-time at the quarter-final stage.
0n 20 December 1992, Zambia lost a World Cup Qualifier to Madagascar 2–0, a result which put their qualification campaign in a precarious position. Blame was heaped on Chabala for the two goals conceded and he was consequently dropped from the team. Answering questions as to whether he had given the game away, Chabala replied “I’m a professional. I could never do that.” The Madagascar game also proved to be the last ever game for Samuel “Zoom” Ndhlovu as coach of Zambia.
For the next two qualification games, Chabala was not involved but national team coaches organised a training game between Zambia and Chabala’s club Mufulira Wanderers in February 1993 in Lusaka. Chabala was simply unbeatable, pulling off save after save from the Zambian strikers, including a penalty. The final result was a 1-0 win for Wanderers and Chabala promptly got back his position in the national team from his deputy Richard Mwanza.
On 28 February 1993, Zambia, needing a win to qualify to the group stages in the World Cup Qualifying campaign, swept aside Madagascar 3-1 in Lusaka. The Zambians were then drawn in the same group as Morocco and Senegal and many felt the time had come for Zambia to qualify to the World Cup as they had a very good team which had been together for a while, with coaching staff who seemed to inspire the team. On 10 April 1993, Zambia played out a goalless draw at home to Zimbabwe in an African Nations Cup qualifier. Two weeks later, the Zambians crushed Mauritius 3-0 in Port Louis with Chabala as captain and Kelvin Mutale grabbing a hat-trick.
From there, the team made its way to Senegal for the first of their World Cup qualifying games in the group stage. The team’s transportation was a Zambia Airforce DHC-5D Buffalo plane. After refuelling in Libreville, the plane developed problems and plunged into the sea on 28 April 1993 killing all 30 people on board including Football Association of Zambia president Michael Mwape and airforce crew members. The entire nation was in shock and the scale of the tragedy only really sank in when 30 coffins holding the remains of their beloved team were flown in for a state burial. The plane crash brought an end to the career of not only Chabala but almost a whole team of talented Zambian players and coaches.
Chabala was survived by his wife and five children.
From the time he made his Zambian debut in 1983, Chabala was omnipresent in the 10 years leading to his death in the Gabon air crash. In that period, Zambia played a total of 130 total games of which he only missed about 10 games when he was away playing in Argentina and 2 when he was dropped in 1992, giving him a record number of around 120 appearances for Zambia, making him the Zambian player with the highest number of international appearances and not Kalusha Bwalya as it has been reported in some quarters. However, both his and Bwalya’s number of appearances are yet to be verified due to poor record keeping by football authorities in Zambia.
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