Zé Kalanga

Paulo Baptista Nsimba (born 12 October 1983), nicknamed Zé Kalanga, is an Angolan former professional footballer who played as a right winger.

Club career

Early career

Zé Kalanga was born on 12 October 1983 in Luanda, Angola and he played junior level football in England at Bristol City. He began his senior career in 2004 at Angolan club, Petro Atletico in his hometown of Luanda, showing an appetite for goals in his three-seasons spell.

Dinamo București and Boavista

His bright and promising performances for Angola on the right wing at the 2006 World Cup earned the 23-year-old a move to Romanian club Dinamo București who needed a replacement for Florentin Petre, paying to Petro Atletico a fee estimated by the Romanian press between $200.000–500.000. Upon arriving on the Bucharest Henri Coandă airport, his first words in front of the reporters at the advice of the club's officials were:"Batem Steaua!" (We will defeat Steaua!). He made his Liga I debut on 13 August 2006 in a 1–0 away victory against Jiul Petroșani and kept his promise as in his first derby, Dinamo won 1–0 with Steaua. He scored his first goal in the league on 1 October in a 3–1 win over rivals Rapid București, then he scored another one in April 2007 in a 2–0 with Gloria Bistrița, these being his only two goals scored in the 21 league games coach Mircea Rednic used him, as the team won the title. Zé Kalanga also appeared in five matches as The Red Dogs reached the sixteenths-finals of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup where they were eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Benfica.

In June 2007 he did not attend Dinamo's pre-season reunion after the summer break. Following this, he was loaned out to Portuguese side Boavista for the duration of the 2007–08 season, making his debut on 15 September 2007 under coach Jaime Pacheco in a 0–0 with Leixões, his evolution being praised by the press. He played constantly for them, a highlight being an assist to Jorge Ribeiro's goal in the 2–0 win over Sporting Lisbon. Zé Kalanga played 22 league games, helping The Panthers finish on the 9th place, but the club ended up being relegated because of referee corruption in the 2003–04 season.

Zé Kalanga returned at Dinamo in September 2008, but he played rarely in one season and a half spent at the club. With The Red Dogs he has a total of 33 Liga I games with two goals scored and seven appearances without scoring in European competitions.

Late career

Zé Kalanga was sold by Dinamo in January 2010 back to Angola at Libolo for $500.000. He spent the rest of his career in Angola, also playing for Santos de Angola, Bravos do Maquis and Santa Rita until his retirement in 2017.

International career

Zé Kalanga made his debut for the Angola national team under coach Ismael Kurtz on 31 May 2003 in a friendly which ended 1–1 with Gabon. Coach Oliveira Gonçalves took him in the squad for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, using him in a loss with Cameroon and a victory with Togo as the team failed to pass the group stage.

He played eight games and scored one goal in a 3–0 with Gabon at the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, the team earning the qualification to the final tournament after a 1–0 win over Rwanda with Zé Kalanga providing the assist to Akwá's goal. At the final tournament, Angola did not pass the group stage but coach Gonçalves used Zé Kalanga in all three matches, a 1–0 loss with Portugal, a 0–0 with Mexico and a 1–1 with Iran, at the latter he was voted Man of the Match as he provided the assist to Flávio's goal. For his performances in 2006, Zé Kalanga was awarded by an Angolan radio with the "Newcomer of the year" title.

He made four appearances and scored one goal in a 6–1 win over Eritrea at the successful 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Gonçalves used him in all four games from the final tournament, as the team passed the group stage, being defeated by Egypt in the quarter-finals. His impressive performance, especially in the 3–1 win over Senegal when he provided an assist to Manucho's headed goal, made Eurosport place him in the team of the tournament. In the following years he played five games at the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, scoring in a 3–1 victory over Niger and was used by coach Manuel José in two games at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, organised by his nation, including playing in the 1–0 loss with Ghana from the quarter-finals. Zé Kalanga's last appearance for the national team took place on 3 March 2010 in a friendly which ended 1–1 with Latvia, having a total of 55 matches with six goals scored for the Black Sable antelopes.

Career statistics

Scores and results list Angola's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zé Kalanga goal.

List of international goals scored by Zé Kalanga

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	22 February 2005	Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat, Brazzaville, Congo	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Republic of the Congo	shortname alias = Congo	flag alias = Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg	flag alias-1970 = Flag of the People's Republic of the Congo.svg	link alias-military = Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo	flag alias-military =Flag of the Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo.svg	link alias-air force = Congolese Air Force	Congolese Army	link alias-basketball = Republic of the Congo {{{mw}}} national basketball team	link alias-volleyball = Republic of the Congo {{{mw}}} national volleyball team	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	altvar = football	variant = }} || style="text-align:center"|2–0 || style="text-align:center"|2–0 || Friendly
2	4 September 2005	Estádio da Cidadela, Luanda, Angola	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Gabon	flag alias = Flag of Gabon.svg	flag alias-1959 = Flag of Gabon 1959-1960.svg	link alias-naval = Gabonese Navy	link alias-air force = Gabonese Air Force	link alias-army = Gabonese Army	link alias-navy = Gabonese Navy	size =	name =	variant =	altlink = national football team }} || style="text-align:center"|3–0 || style="text-align:center"|3–0 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
3	30 April 2006	Setsoto Stadium, Maseru, Lesotho	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Lesotho	flag alias = Flag of Lesotho.svg	flag alias-colonial = Unofficial Basutoland Ensign.svg	flag alias-1966 = Flag of Lesotho (1966–1987).svg	flag alias-1987 = Flag of Lesotho (1987-2006).svg	Lesotho Air Squadron	link alias-military = Lesotho Defence Force	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	variant = }} || style="text-align:center"|2–0 || rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|3–0 || rowspan="2"|2006 COSAFA Cup
4				3–0
5	25 March 2007	Complexo Desportivo da Cidadela, Luanda, Angola	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Eritrea	flag alias = Flag of Eritrea.svg	flag alias-1952 = Flag of Eritrea (1952-1961).svg	flag alias-1993 = Flag of Eritrea (1993–1995).svg	link alias-naval = Eritrean Navy	link alias-military = Eritrean Defence Forces	link alias-army = Eritrean Army	link alias-air force = Eritrean Air Force	link alias-navy = Eritrean Navy	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	variant = }} || style="text-align:center"|3–0 || style="text-align:center"|6–0 || 2008 African Cup of Nations qualification
6	12 October 2008	Estádio dos Coqueiros, Luanda, Angola	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Niger	flag alias = Flag of Niger.svg	flag alias-military = Flag of niger armed forces obv.jpg	link alias-military = Niger Armed Forces	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	variant = }} || style="text-align:center"|3–1 || style="text-align:center"|3–1 || 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Dinamo București

• Liga I: 2006–07

Angola

• African Nations Championship: runner-up 2011

External links

• Zé Kalanga at CNN
• Template:Soccerway