Flashy rides not on the list
Striker saving for a house in Lusaka
Supersport United budding star Ghampani Lungu won’t allow peer pressure and general expectations placed on a professional footballer to dictate how to live his life.
It does not bother Lungu that he is not seen driving a flashy car, something he thinks if he goes for, would mess up his priorities.
The Zambian-born utility striker, 21, is content with getting lifts to and from training from his teammates, more so from Zimbabwean international Evans Rusike and Ugandan Moses Waiswa.
Bucking the trend of footballers forking out fortunes on expensive cars as soon as they taste fame and riches, Lungu prioritises buying a house in his home town of Lusaka in Zambia over getting wheels.
“I’m actually staying near our training venue [at Megawatt Park in Sunninghill, Joburg]. I take a ride with Rusike or Waiswa. When we go for training, they just pass by my place and pick me up,” says Lungu.
“I don’t mind getting lifts every time. I’ll only buy my own car once I have bought my house. I’ll buy a house very soon in Lusaka.”
As the famous proverb says, “home is where the heart is”. So where is Lungu’s heart?
“Sometimes I miss home. But I like being in SA, it’s a nice country with wonderful people,” explains the Matsatsantsa youngster.
Hearing what kind of food
Lungu is into gives a hint why he sometimes misses home, where his mother never gets tired of preparing him his favourite dish.
“Food .. .mmm, I eat everything I can cook. But I miss certain food, mom’s cooking. My mom prepares me shima – it’s pap. She mixes two mealie-meals, a normal one and cassava one. I’m also into rice, potatoes and pasta. She’s brilliant at cooking that too.”
When he’s not readying himself for matches with his Supersport teammates, Lungu mainly uses his leisure time to watch movies, TV series and playing online games.
“I’ve always been a home person. I’m always indoors when I’m not at training, people rarely see me around. I like movies and TV series,” he says.
“I also play games online with my cousins or my Zambian teammates like Fashion Sakala [the striker who plays for Belgium Pro League side KV Oostende]. We’re always in touch, playing Playstation. We like shooting games.”
Lungu is also a music fanatic. “Weirdly, I listen to every genre. I listen to a lot of music. My teammate Onismor Bhasera made me listen to jazz.
“My sister always says I am white when it comes to music because I love white people’s music. The artists I like the most is The Chainsmokers [the American electronic DJS and production duo Alexander Pall and Andrew Taggart].”