It may be cliché to say ‘whatever goes up must come down,’ but the adage rings true for celebrated Nkana player Ronald ‘Sate Sate’ Kampamba who has hung up his boots, taking a role as a third assistant coach at his boyhood club.
The 13-time champions have announced Kampamba’s retirement in the most subtle ways, listing him as Ian Bakala’s third assistant coach ahead of the new season.
For a player who showed much promise, this is not the best way he would have envisaged leaving the playing stage, but football is unpredictable.
Kampamba came to the fore as an exciting forward in 2009, helping Nkana to a Super League promotion after the club had spent close to a decade in the doldrums of Zambian football.
He made his Super League debut in 2010 and was the talk of town between 2012 and 2013 when he bagged the Super League Golden Boot back-to-back.
Kampamba was tipped as the next big thing in Zambian football but only went as far as making just eleven appearances on the national team, scoring two goals and that was it.
His last Chipolopolo call-up was in October 2016 when he made a provisional squad for the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Cameroon.
It is Kampamba’s former striking partner, Evans Kangwa, who went on to achieve more success while Sate Sate had fruitless spells at Egyptian side Wadi Degla and Belgium’s Liesre in 2015.
After failing to live to the billing beyond the borders, Kampamba returned home signing a five year contract at Nkana, much to the excitement of his adoring fans, but nothing came out of that.
He then tried his luck at Kansanshi Dynamos, but after a season, the Solwezi side released him, marking a third coming at Nkana, but again, there was nothing much to write home about
Last season, he did not tickle Ian Bakala’s fancy as the coach preferred other players over Sate Sate who saw restricted game time.
His last appearance in a competitive game for Nkana was on May 19 when he came on as a sub in the 1 – 0 win over Kansanshi.
He leaves the stage with two Super League titles, four Charity Shields, and one ABSA Cup to his name.
