{"id":73877,"date":"2019-01-31T12:06:18","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T10:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=73877"},"modified":"2019-01-31T12:06:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T10:06:18","slug":"robin-ngalande-signs-18-month-contract-in-azerbaijan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/01\/31\/robin-ngalande-signs-18-month-contract-in-azerbaijan\/","title":{"rendered":"Robin Ngalande signs 18-month contract in Azerbaijan"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mabvuto Kambuwe: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On and off Malawi national football team forward Robin Ngalande\u2019s return to Europe has been completed after signing an 18-month contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Zira FC.<\/p>\n

Ngalande made his debut in European football at the youth academy of Spanish giants Atletico Madrid after impressing while with South African side Mamelodi Sundowns\u2019 reserve side at a youth tournament.<\/p>\n

But he returned to South Africa after failing to live up to his billing that saw some analysts comparing him to former Cameroon and Barcelona great Samuel Eto\u2019o.<\/p>\n

Ngalande signed the one-and-a-half year deal Wednesday having spent six months without a club after terminating<\/a> his three-year deal with South Africa\u2019s Absa Premier Soccer League side Baroka FC.<\/p>\n

Ngalande\u2019s manager, Paul Mitchell of Siyavuma Sports Group, confirmed that the forward has sealed a deal with the Baku-based side.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobin is signing with Zira FC of Azerbaijan. He is excited to start playing football,\u201d<\/em> Mitchell said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This means Ngalande and Taonga Chimodzi are the only Malawian players plying their trade in Europe. Chimodzi is in Cyprus.<\/p>\n

Former Silver Strikers and Civil Sporting Club coach, Thom Mkorongo, said the European move is good for Ngalande\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is good for Ngalande in particular and Malawi in general, as football standards in Europe are very high.I urge him to work hard so that he revives his football career,\u201d<\/em> Mkorongo said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The former Civo United forward joined Mamelodi Sundowns Acamedy in 2009 before being spotted by Madrid a year later.<\/p>\n

He spent two years with the Spanish club before returning to South Africa to join Bidvest Wits on a two-year loan deal.<\/p>\n

Ngalande has also played for South African top league sides such as Platinum Stars and Ajax Cape Town.<\/p>\n

Zira, also known as The Eagles, are based in Baku, Azerbaijan\u2019s capital, and are on position eight in the country\u2019s Premier League with 10 points from 14 games, 23 points behind leaders Neftchi.<\/p>\n

Ngalande\u2019s deal comes just a day after Flames and Be Forward Wanderers attacker Yamikani Chester left the country for a loan deal at North Carolina in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mabvuto Kambuwe: On and off Malawi national football team forward Robin Ngalande\u2019s return to Europe has been completed after signing an 18-month contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Zira FC. Ngalande made his debut in European football at the youth academy of Spanish giants Atletico Madrid after impressing while with South African side Mamelodi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73879,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73877\/revisions\/73879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}