Ben Bamfuchile

Ben "Big Ben" Bamfuchile (* 1960 ; † December 27, 2007 in Kitwe ) was a Zambian football player and coach.

Ben Bamfuchile began his football career in 1977 as a player at Nkana FC and was national champion several times. Since the late 1980s he was assistant coach at the club. In 1993 he took over the coaching position from Moses Simwala . In 1994 he was co-trainer of the Zambian national team when winning the silver medal at the African Cup of Nations . In 1996 he and his team won the trophy in Swaziland . This was followed by a brief engagement at Amazulu in South Africa . In 1999 he became the coach of the Zambian U23 national team and led them to the final of the African Cup, where they lost to Cameroon .

Bamfuchile led Zambia to the 2000 African Cup of Nations in Ghana and Nigeria , but retired with his team in third place behind Egypt and Senegal and before Burkina Faso after two draws and only one defeat against Egypt. From January 2001 to December 2003 Bamfuchile looked after the Zambian association Power Dynamos and won the trophy (“Mosi Cup”) with the team in 2001 and 2003. He then coached his home club Nkana FC . Since June 5, 2006 he was in charge of the Namibian national team and only led them to an African Championship for the second time. Bamfuchile died shortly before the tournament after a brief serious illness which had made it impossible for him to carry out his work for several months and which would have ended his cooperation with the association at the end of the year. He left a wife and six children.

Web links

• Obituary of the Allgemeine Zeitung online / Windhoek
• Obituary at Lusakatimes (Engl.)
• Obituary in the World Cup Blog (English).