Online Reporter
Fungai Muderere
Zimpapers Sports Hub
WARRIORS defender Devine Lunga has become the first Zimbabwean to play at the expanded FIFA Club World Cup and made an instant impact by being named in the Best XI for the opening round of group matches.
The 30-year-old Mamelodi Sundowns left back starred in the South African champions’ 1-0 win over Ulsan HD of South Korea in their Group F opener on Wednesday in the United States.
Mamelodi Sundowns also became the first African side to win a match at the Club World Cup.
Lunga, who came through the ranks at Chicken Inn after starting his career at Ajax Hotspurs in Bulawayo’s Mpopoma suburb, was included in Sofascore’s Team of the First Round following a solid defensive display.
He recorded the highest number of tackles in the match, made a crucial first-half goal-line clearance, and shut down the attacking threat of Ulsan winger Um Won-sang.
His performance earned him a rating of 8 out of 10, the best for a left back in round one.
The Best XI also features six Bayern Munich players, with Lunga the only African defender included.
By virtue of qualifying for the 32-team tournament, Mamelodi Sundowns are already guaranteed US$12.81 million, the base participation fee allocated to African clubs.
That figure could rise substantially depending on Sundowns’ progress at the competition, which FIFA are also using as a dress rehearsal for the 2026 World Cup which the United States will co-host with Canada and Mexico.
According to FIFA’s prize structure for the Club World Cup:
Group stage wins earn clubs $2 million per match.
Draws fetch $1 million.
Progressing to the Round of 16 brings an additional $7.5 million.
Quarter-finals: $13.125 million
Semi-finals: $21 million
Runners-up: $21 million
Winners: $40 million
In total, $1 billion has been set aside for the tournament, with $525 million going to clubs for participation and $475 million distributed based on performance.
A European winner who wins all group games could pocket between $130.4 million and $155.8 million, underlining the financial scale of the event.
Lunga moved to South Africa in 2018, joining Golden Arrows from Chicken Inn after being scouted during the COSAFA Cup which Sunday Chidzambwa’s Warriors won in Polokwane that year.
He later signed with Sundowns and has since qualified for permanent residency, allowing him to be registered as a local player and does not have to contend for the foreign quota.
His journey began in Bulawayo, where he developed through Chicken Inn’s youth system after his early days at Ajax Hotspurs.
Lunga has also evolved into a key figure in German coach Michael Nees’ Warriors for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in December.
And the Warriors gaffer must be following the proceedings in the United States with satisfaction knowing that Lunga is gaining invaluable experience from competing against the best that global club football has.
Nees told the media after the FIFA June window for international friendlies that he would be hoping that Warriors will play regular football at the highest level in the build-up to the Nations Cup jamboree.
The former Seychelles gaffer is hoping to become the first to steer the Warriors past the group stage at the Nation Cup.
His predecessors Chidzambwa (twice in 2004 and 2019), Charles Mhlauri (2006), Kalisto Pasuwa (2017) and Norman Mapeza in 2022 have all come a cropper at the group phase.
Now the class of 2025 led by skipper Marvelous Nakamba and including Wolves’ Marshal Munetsi, Teenage Hadebe, the returning duo of Khama Billiat and Knowledge Musona and Tawanda Chirewa can bust the group-stage jinx.
