Mwepu Ilunga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Mwepu Ilunga
Personal information
Full name Joseph Mwepu Ilunga
Date of birth (1949-08-22)22 August 1949
Place of birth Belgian Congo
Date of death 8 May 2015(2015-05-08) (aged 65)
Place of death Kinshasa, DR Congo
Position Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
TP Mazembe
International career
1971–1975 Zaïre[1] 21 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joseph Mwepu Ilunga (22 August 1949 – 8 May 2015) was a football defender from Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). His name is also written as Alunga Mwepu.

Club career

[edit | edit source]

Mwepu played club football for Englebert TP Mazembe in his native Zaire,[2] with whom he won the 1967 African Cup of Champions and 1968 African Cup of Champions.[3]

International career

[edit | edit source]

Mwepu played for his country, then called Zaire, during the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Zaire were then the first sub-Saharan African team to qualify for the World Cup finals. During their group match against Brazil, he ran out of his team's defensive wall and kicked away a free kick before the ball was in play.[4] He was subsequently cautioned, but some commentators felt that he seemed oblivious as to what he had done wrong.[5] However, Mwepu claimed that he was quite aware of the rules – as would be expected from an experienced player in a successful side – and was hoping that the referee would send him off. The intended red card would have been a protest against his country's authorities, who were alleged to be depriving the players of their rightful earnings.[6] The 1974 World Cup did not mark the end of Mwepu's international career, as he was included in Zaire's squad at the 1975 Iran International Tournament.[7]

Death

[edit | edit source]

Mwepu Ilunga died in May 2015 after a long illness[8] in the Saint-Joseph de Limete Hospital, Kinshasa.[3]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ Appearances for Congo-Kinshasa National Team
  2. ^ Zaïre's World Cup squad 1974 - Planet World Cup
  3. ^ a b Foot: l’ancien Léopard Joseph Ilunga Mwepu décédé à l’âge de 66 ans - Radio Okapi (in French)
  4. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). (Accessed 10 June 2006)
  5. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  7. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
[edit | edit source]
Retrieved from "http://70.231.62.181/index.php?title=Mwepu_Ilunga&oldid=16835032"