Adam Ndlovu
Adam ‘Adamski’ Ndlovu (late) was a Bulawayo born, Zimbabwean professional footballer. He was born into a family of legendary footballers like Peter NDlovu and MAdinda Ndlovu.
Adam Ndlovu was a celebrity professional footballer from Zimbabwe who was well known for being born into a family full of talented footballers like Madinda Ndlovu and Peter Ndlovu. The youngest of his brothers, Peter Ndlovu, was the most celebrated Zimbabwean footballer of all time.
Early Life
Adam Ndlovu was born and raised in Bulawayo’s oldest township, Makokoba. He grew up playing football with his brothers in this street as well as in primary and secondary school. His brother Peter Ndlovu often spoke about how they grew up poor.
This is the same street where many Bulawayo celebrities grew up like the late Beater Mangethe, Cont Mhlanga and Lenny Gwatha who was also a famous footballer.
Career
Ndlovu grew to play for his hometown football club, Highlanders, as a striker. He went on to play for Free State Stars, Dynamos Giyani, Moroka Swallows Soweto, FC Zurich, SR Delemont and SC Kriens. He spent 7 seasons playing in Switzerland.
Ndlovu scored a total of 34 goals for Zimbabwe, in the National team, Warriors. He was part of the Dream team which was the greatest Warriors team that ever existed. Created by German Coach Reinhard Farbish, the squad is known for coming within 90 minutes of qualifying for the 1994 World Cup Finals.
After playing in Switzerland and South Africa, Adam Ndlovu returned to Zimbabwe to pursue a coaching career. He was 2 years into his coaching career in the Zimbabwe premier league and had led one of Bulawayo’s football clubs, Chicken Inn, to an unexpected 3rd place in the Premiership.
Death
On the fateful day of 16 December 2012, Adam and his brother Peter Ndlovu were driving from Bulawayo to the resort town when a tire burst causing the veer into oncoming collision resulting in a head-on collision. Adam Ndlovu died on the spot. The horrific accident left Peter Ndlovu in a wheelchair with serious injuries which he has since recovered from.
The tragedy received prominent coverage across the globe on BBC Sport, ITV, Espn soccernet, SkySports, Super Sport and the British newspapers
According to Ezra ‘Tshisa’ Sibanda on Nehanda radio, tens of thousands of people lined up the streets, singing and chanting his name and the atmosphere was terrific. Analysts believe the crowd surpassed the late Vice President, Joshua Nkomo’s funeral procession. A service was held in the Barbourfields stadium in Bulawayo.
Ndlovu passed at the age of 42, surviving by one child who was and is still based in the UK.
