Fabian Mudhegu-Sports Reporter
FORMER Warriors International, Peter Ndlovu, is ranked amongst Africa’s football heroes who have graced the English Premier League.
Ndlovu became the first African to ever play and score in the then newly formed Premier Soccer League in 1992 when he featured for Coventry City.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns striker grew up in a footballing family alongside his brothers, Adam and Madinda Ndovu. At the age of 16 he played for Bulawayo’s Highlanders FC and began writing his own history for the African continent.
He spent only two years at Highlanders, and he was taken to the English Premier Soccer League by Terry Butcher to play for Coventry City in the year 1991. The classic and legendary move paved way for the likes of George Weah, Jay Jay Okocha, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Riyad Mahrez amongst others.
When having conversation on African footballers of all time, the session will not be complete without mentioning the name, Peter Ndlovu. His debut in the EPL gave historians crucial information to pen down and keep safe for future generations.
Ndlovu’s first match in the EPL came on August 22, 1992, when he featured for Coventry City against Tottenham Hotspurs coming off the bench in the last 20 minutes of the game. In the same year, he became the first African to score in the rebranded English top flight, netting for Coventry City in a 2-1 win at Sheffield.
His beautiful signature did not end there, on the game against Liverpool in March 1995, the former Warriors striker left a mark at Anfield. He became the first opposition player to score a hat-trick at Reds stadium. And that record was only broken 14 years later by Arsenal’s Andrey Asharvin in April 2009 with Leandro Trossard of Brighton repeating the same in 2022.
The legend appeared on the pitch 176 times and managed to bang 45 goals. After spending six years playing for Coventry, the African giant moved to Birmingham City where he featured 106 times and scored 26 times. He also spent one year on loan representing Huddersfield Town, netting 6 times before spending his last years at Sheffield United where he amassed 25 goals in 135 games.
After his English tour, King Peter moved back to his continent, Africa in 2004 to play for Mamelodi Sundowns. The former Zimbabwean captain was capped 81 times and scored 20 goals. From Mamelodi Sundowns, Peter never scored a club goal even though his football career continued at Thanda Royal Zulu, Highfield United and Black Mamba of South Africa.
The legend featured 504 times at club level and registered a total number of 117 goals. In his career, at international level, Peter Ndlovu was capped 100 times, scoring 37 times. Overally, Peter played 604 career games and registering 154 goals.
His genius moments in the world of football made him to be overloaded with nicknames. When he was a Coventry player he was nicknamed “Nuddy” and other nicknames that came from the Zimbabwean football fans of his time were “Nsukuzonke”, the Bulawayo Bullet and the Flying Elephant.”
The passion for the game saw him to step into managerial role. In 2011, the legend became the assistant manager of the Zimbabwe national team. In 2013, he returned to Mamelodi Sundowns as the club’s team manager and that is where he is up to now.
Peter Ndlovu has been involved in several controversies throughout his career. In 2003, he was accused of assaulting a referee during a match in the African Cup of Nations, but the charges were later dropped.
He was also accused of match-fixing in 2009, but the charges were later dismissed. Recently, Peter trended after it emerged that he is struggling to pay maintenance for his 13 children with several women.
Zim GBC News©2023