The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
THE first Zimbabwean footballer to win a CAF Champions League winner’s medal, Chris Semakweri, is happy to welcome Khama Billiat to the exclusive club. Semakweri won the Champions League with TP Mazembe in 2010 when the DRC giants beat Esperance of Tunisia 6-1 on aggregate.The former Warriors winger came on as a 75th minute substitute in the first leg as TP Mazembe romped to a 5-0 victory at the Stade de la Kenya in Lubumbashi. He was an unused substitute in the second leg which ended 1-1 at the Stade 7 November in Rades, Tunisia.
“That was a great feeling, Champions League football is the highest stage of club football on the continent and to have played and won the final was an honour,” Semakweri told The Sunday Mail Sport on Friday.
There were misleading reports during the week that Billiat became the first Zimbabwean to win a Champions League winners medal after Mamelodi Sundowns beat Egyptians giants Zamalek 3-1 on aggregate last weekend. However, Semakweri is not bitter about that oversight, and hopes that more Zimbabweans get to win the CAF Champions League.
“I am so happy for Khama; he deserved it after a fine season with Sundowns. He is a gifted player who raised Zimbabwe’s flag in Africa. “I hope more Zimbabwean players will soon get those medals because that experience is invaluable . . . it is good for our football,” he said.
Six years after winning the biggest prize in African football, Semakweri is now earning his keep at Chicken Inn.
A career which started at the now defunct Caps FC back in 2007 before hitting the high gears at Monomotapa and TP Mazembe appears to be coming to a low-key ending.
But that does not take away the fact that Semakweri is the first Zimbabwean to sit at the summit of African club football.
And the 32-year-old Semakweri insists he still has some football left in his legs. “I know most people believe that Semakweri is over the hill but look football is a funny sport.
I will rise again and am working hard here at Chicken Inn to make sure that I take my game back to the top,” he said.
