Zito Luvumbo, who is the TikTok star Cagliari footballer who scored two goals for Parma

Away from the spotlight. The two goals in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Parma they are doing so much talk about Zito LuvumboAngolan striker of the Cagliari, even if his is the story of a humble boy. The first kicks when he was a ball boy in Luanda (Angola), an audition without shoes and a viral video on TikTok. Three elements (and more) to tell the story of a footballer who came from afar. “The best night of my life? I say yes, but it’s not over,” he said Luvumbo after the semi-final against the Parma won at home 3-2, where he also obtained the penalty converted by Lapadula. A player who entered the heart of the Cagliari coach, Claudio Ranieri, close to tears after the completed comeback, who had charged him just a few days earlier: “I told him a thousand times that he has to shoot more on goal, so his salary also increases”. A lesson that Luvumbo seems to have understood well.

Zito Luvumbo, the beginning as a ball boy and the audition without shoes

Luvumbo starts as a ball boy during the matches of RSD Guelsonthe team from Luanda, the capital ofAngola and his hometown. At 8 years old, taking the field in the downtime of the first team matches, he points out the president Pembele Andre Pedro, who is impressed by the young man’s technical qualities. At the audition, where he shows up without shoes, Luvumbo fails to convince the coach, but thanks to the insistence of the president manages to carve out a space in the team. After a few seasons, the call comes First of Augustthe most prestigious club of Luanda and all of Angola.

The beginnings of Luvumbo

He made his debut in the first team at the end of the 2018-19 season, contributing to the victory of the Girabolathe national championship. A little later, as a protagonist (goal and penalty obtained in the final), he also takes the lead Taca de Angola, the national cup, thus achieving his first two trophies as a professional just a few months after his debut. The following year the national championship was interrupted due to the Covidbut Luvumbo he still manages to make his debut in the Champions League caféAfrica’s top club competition, finished with one goal in four appearances.

Luvumbo: the call from United, the arrival at Cagliari and the lack of debut in Serie A

After being called up to the youth academyAngola, in 2019 the first offers from abroad. The most attractive since Manchester Unitedwith whom he auditioned for the Academy in February of the same year, and from West Ham. But the transfer in Premier League jumps due to problems in issuing the residence permit. On 11 September 2020 the turning point: Luvumbo find the agreement to transfer to Cagliariat that moment in A league, with whom he joined for five years, thus becoming the first Angolan player in the history of the Sardinian club. The then technician Eusebio DiFrancesco decides to immediately add him to the first team, but injuries keep him away from the field. His debut comes in the Spring, in February 2021, in the championship concluded with 19 appearances and 5 goals, against Sampdoria, Fiorentina, Spal and a brace against the future Italian champions Empoli.

Luvumbo’s career

In 2021 the agreement to extend the contract until 2026, then the loan to How, in B serieswhere it finds little space. The consecration in 2022-23, still in B, after the relegation of Cagliari the previous season. Fabio Liverani, coach of the rossoblù until last December, calls him back to the first team. Since then 5 goals and 1 assist in 38 games. Now, with the Cagliari driven by Claudio Ranieriprotagonist of the ride that ensured the club the play-offs, Luvumbo’s debut in Serie A doesn’t seem so far away.

Viral luvumbo on TikTok

“Pleasure Luvumbo Zitopleasure”, so he presented himself in a video posted on TikTok on the profile of Cagliari last January. A meme with one and a half million views and almost 150,000 likes, which immediately made him an idol among the boys, the fans and the Cagliari and other users.