Patrick Phiri


Patrick Phiri is a Zambian football coach and former footballer. He featured for Zambian clubs Rokana United and Red Arrows as a striker and represented Zambia at the 1978 and 1982 African Cup of Nations tournaments. As a coach, Phiri led the Zambia U-20 national team to its first ever appearance at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria and was voted Zambian Coach of the Year at the end of the year. He was also in charge of Zambia at the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana and has managed ten different club sides, with three of them more than once. He is currently in charge of Nakambala Leopards in the Zambian Premier League.

Early life

Phiri was born in Luanshya's Mpatamatu township where his father Ackson Phiri was a miner. He was the fifth born in a family of three boys and four girls and went to Mpatamatu and Mwaiseni Primary Schools and later attended Mpatamatu Secondary. Not only was he a keen student but he excelled on the football pitch as well.

Playing career

While still at primary school and barely into his teens, Phiri began following his two elder brothers to training sessions at Luanshya amateur side Buseko FC. At times, he would be asked to join in the sessions to make up the numbers. He was too young to play for the team in actual matches but the exposure at an early age made him better than his age-mates. Phiri began featuring for Buseko in 1973 and stayed with the team for two seasons until he was lured to Division I side Rokana United in 1974 by Zambian international star Bernard 'Bomber' Chanda, who also started his career at Buseko and at the time was courting Phiri's immediate elder sister Louisa whom he ended up marrying.
After a spell in the reserves, Phiri was promoted to the first team the following year and he made an immediate impact, more than holding his own among players like Chanda, Stone Chibwe, Brighton Sinyangwe, Moses Simwala and Mark Masumbuko. Sporting an afro hair-style like his brother-in-law, the teenager was Rokana's top scorer with 21 goals. One of the highlights of his season was a brace against Mufulira Wanderers in a 3–0 victory at Rokana's home ground Scrivener Stadium.
The skilful forward caught the eye of second division football club Zambia Air Force Football Club who enticed him to join them towards the end of the season, together with other Rokana players Johnston Katowando, Shadreck Chungu, and Bernard 'Tools' Mutale who had moved earlier in July. This caused some friction between the two clubs, but it proved to be a shrewd move as the team clinched the Division II title and won promotion to the top league.
At ZAF, he linked up with players like Ghost Mulenga, Aaron Njovu, Martin Besa, System Chilongo, Sandra Phiri, Fanny Hangunyu and John Zyambo and helped transform Arrows into a formidable outfit. He earned the nickname 'The Mathematician' in reference to his calculated passes and clinical finishing. He won the Heroes and Unity Cup in 1977 and 1979, and scored twice in the BP Shell Challenge Cup final, a 5–0 thrashing of Green Buffaloes in 1982. He also won the Champion of Champions cup in 1983 when Arrows beat favourites Power Dynamos by three goals to two in Ndola.
In July 1986, Arrows coach Boniface Simutowe was relieved of his duties after a poor run of results and Phiri was appointed player- coach. He continued picking himself for the rest of the season after which he retired to concentrate on coaching the team.

National team

Phiri's performances at Arrows earned him a call-up to the national team under Ante Buselic at the age of 20, as Zambia prepared for the 1976 Montreal Olympics which Zambia pulled out of for political reasons. He scored on his debut, getting the winning goal when Zambia beat Botswana 3–2 in Gaborone to celebrate that country's independence in September of that year. He also featured at 1976 East and Central Africa tournament in Zanzibar, making a substitute appearance in the final which Zambia lost to Uganda 2–0, and at the 1977 East and Central Africa where Zambia once again lost to Uganda but this time on penalties.
He was part of Brian Tiler's squad at CAN 1978 and scored the first goal in Zambia's 2–0 victory over Upper Volta. Unfortunately, Zambia bowed out in the group stage after losing to eventual winners Ghana and drawing with and Nigeria.
Phiri also featured prominently at CAN 1982 where he played his last game for Zambia.

Coaching career

In 1986, Arrows went on a poor run and at the half-way stage, were rooted to the bottom of the 12 team table with 7 points from 11 matches, a situation which saw their fans riot in protest. The team's executive acted swiftly by appointing Phiri as player-coach, replacing Simutowe. Arrows performances improved under Phiri and they survived relegation at the end of the season. Phiri disclosed that he found being player-coach the best way to coach, as he was involved in the action on the pitch and could easily pass on instructions to other players. That same year, he was sent to West Germany for a basic coaching course.
The following season which spilled into the following year due to a dispute over an unfulfilled fixture involving Kabwe Warriors which went as far as the courts, Arrows took the league by storm, leading the table for a large part of the season and eventually finishing third, three points behind champions Warriors but scoring more goals than any other team.
He got his intermediate certificate in 1989 in Germany in 1991, the changing economic climate saw Arrows being demoted to Division I and the ZAF top brass made the decision to disband the team. Phiri therefore joined Zambia Airways sponsored FAZ Division I side Ndeke Rangers in 1992 which also went under following the liquidation of the national airline in 1994. Phiri found himself at Queensmead Stadium in 1994 first as Obby Kapita's assistant at Lusaka Dynamos before taking over the reins in 1995 and took them to second place on the Super Division log – their best performance ever. It was during this time that he doubled as head coach of the Under-20 national team and won the regional COSAFA Cup in Botswana. While in Gaborone, he made contact with Mochudi Centre Chiefs who offered him a job in 1997. However, he had managed to qualify the team to the Under-20 African Youth Championship in Morocco so FAZ recalled him after six months to take the team to North Africa where Zambia bowed out in the group stages.
On his return from Morocco, he was asked to take over at former club Nkana who had not won the league since 1992. Phiri obliged by turning the side into champions, with players such as Gift Kampamba, Freddie Mwila Jnr, and Emmanuel Msichili among others. He won two Super Division titles, the Mosi Cup and the BP Top 8 Cup three times in a row.
After a splendid performance at the African Youth Championship finals in Ghana where Zambia reached the semi-finals, Phiri made history by becoming the first Zambian coach to take the Under-20 side to the World Youth Cup where they beat Honduras 4–3, drew with Spain 1–1 but lost to Brazil 5–1 after taking an early lead.
He was appointed assistant coach to Ben Bamfuchile at the under-23 national team and the two took the team to the 1999 All Africa Games in South Africa where Zambia reached the final and they lost 1–0 to Cameroon. Following Zambia's poor showing at CAN 2002 where they were eliminated in the first round, the FAZ entrusted Phiri with the task of taking Zambia to Tunisia 2004 and he took over from Roald Poulsen who had taken temporary charge of the team when previous full-time coach Jan Brouwer was banned from the 2002 tournament by the Confederation of African Football.
Phiri made a winning start with a 3–0 COSAFA Cup win over Mozambique in Lusaka but Zambia lost to Malawi 1–0 in the next round of the same competition. Zambia then kicked off their CAN 2004 qualification campaign with a 1–0 away win to Sudan but two home draws against Benin and Sudan meant Zambia travelled to Cotonou needing a draw to progress to Tunisia. It was a trip fraught with difficulties.
When Zambia arrived in the West African country, their hosts had only arranged transportation for the players so the coaching and administrative staff had to hire scooters to ferry them to the hotel, which turned out to be sub-standard. Zambia turned up on match day in front of a packed stadium. With Benin hell-bent on qualifying to their first ever CAN tournament by any means, the team was urinated on by spectators who were above the walkway to the dressing room. On their way to the pitch, fans poured a white substance on the Zambian players which turned out to be itching powder, and also showered them with missiles so a number of them were injured and had to be attended to while the national anthems were being played. Some players wanted to boycott the match but Phiri reckoned that they would suffer a worse fate from the hostile crowd and convinced the players to carry on, that the important thing was to play the match and depart in one piece. The team’s Administrative Manager Solly Pandor was detained at gunpoint by Benin authorities and did not even sit on the bench with his colleagues. Zambia lost 3–0 to goals by Omar Tchomogo who struck twice, and Moussa Latoundji and failed to qualify to a CAN tournament for the first time since 1988. Phiri accepted the blame though he did not like the reaction from the fans and administrators considering that the match was not played under normal sporting conditions, which he described as his ‘worst experience in football.’
Although the FAZ appealed to the CAF, the continental soccer body only fined Benin a paltry amount and allowed them to proceed to the finals.
He continued as coach but only for two games more for when Zambia lost a COSAFA Cup semi-final to Malawi on penalties in Blantyre, Phiri was fired and replaced by Kalusha Bwalya. In 15 games, he won 6, drew 6 and lost 3.
Phiri then Took charge of Tanzanian side Simba and won the league in 2004-5.

Personal life

Phiri is married to Cecilia Mutale and they have two children; Melesianiah and Patrick Jnr who has not followed in his father’s famous footsteps.

Honours

Playing Honours
Coaching Honours
Individual Awards