TP Mazembe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 03/2015
AFRICAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2015 Winner
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TP Mazembe
Full name:
Tout Puissant Mazembe
Nicknames:
Les Corbeaux (The Ravens)
Founded:
1939 as FC Saint-Georges
Ground:
Stade TP Mazembe, Lubumbashi
Capacity:
18,500
President:
Moïse Katumbi Chapwe
Manager:
Patrice Carteron
League:
Linafoot
2014:
1st
Tout Puissant Mazembe, formerly known as Englebert, is a Congolese football club based in Lubumbashi.
Their home games are played at Stade TP Mazembe, situated in the suburb of Kamalondo.
Its nickname is Les corbeaux (the ravens) despite having a crocodile with a ball in its mouth on the team crest.
TP Mazembe has a revenue of €14 million and attendances of 18,000.
CS Don Bosco serves as a feeder club to the team.
Mazembe are among the major sports clubs in DR Congo.
They reached the 2010 World Cup Club Final
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INTERVIEW
Moise Katumbi, president of DR Congo side TP Mazembe, says the people who invest in football in Europe should now also look to Africa.
The businessman has invested heavily in Mazembe and has seen them win back-to-back African Champions League titles in 2009 and 2010.
On the back of the 2010 victory, Mazembe also reached the final of the Club World Cup, where they lost 3:0 to European champions Inter Milan of Italy.
"What is important for me is to call those investors investing in soccer in Europe to come because the future is Africa," Katumbi told BBC Sport.
"The money in Europe is TV money and sponsors money. In Africa, having sponsors is a big problem."
"There is not a lot of money because we don't have enough sponsors."
He believes that such a boost in finances will also mean more African players staying to play on the continent.
"We are trying to offer the best things that we have to our players - it's really tough in Africa to maintain a club," he said.
"I think the day African players remain on the continent, then Africa can win the World Cup.
"If you are only transferring players, it's not benefiting Africa - let's compete fairly."
Katumbi also insists that playing continental club football is important to him despite the potential to make a financial loss.
"You lose money, but you don't have to look just at money," he said.
"You have to look at what the result is for football in Africa."
"There is a lot of war on our continent, and football can bring peace.
"Today you've got very good talent in Africa and can use this talent to bring peace in Africa.
"If you have peace in all of Africa, you are going to go far in soccer."
The 49-year-old says that football has taught him a lot of lessons too.
"You are learning to be patient, to know how to share and to accept how to lose," he added.
"In life, people don't want to accept if they lose anything, but in football you accept you lose the cup.
"Football is about fair play and coming together."
TP Mazembe have been drawn in Group A of the African Champions League 2014 alongside local rivals AS Vita Club, Zamalek of Egypt and Sudan's Al Hilal.
(BBC Sports UK, 5 May 2014)
Players