Ascent duo sign contracts with Iceland club

Following successful preseason trials, Ascent Soccer duo Precious Kapunda (19) and Levison Munyenyembe (18) have been signed by UMF Afturelding for the upcoming season in Iceland.

UMF Afturelding are based in the capital city of Reykjavik, playing in the second tier of Icelandic football. Munyenyembe and Kapunda train with the U19 and first team, and will be eligible to play for both sides this season.

Levison Munyenyembe, from Mzuzu, is a quick, tenacious winger/forward with an eye for goal. Precious Kapunda, from Blantyre, is a central midfield player with an exceptional range of passing. Both players joined Ascent Soccer as 12-year-olds and were instrumental in Ascent’s 2022 unbeaten tour of South Africa, which included a 3-0 win of the Mamelodi Sundowns U17s.

The boys’ loan deals represent Ascent Soccer’s first players to ink professional contracts in Europe.

Academy founder George Maguire commented, “This is a next level opportunity for our academy players and we’re delighted they’ve got a year in Europe to hone their skills and earn the opportunity for a bigger move if successful. We have a number of players in the pipleline, both male and female, that will be given European opportunities this year and we’re excited to see our academy players putting Malawian football on the map overseas.”

Since 2018 Ascent Soccer, Malawi’s only full time residential football academy program, has produced over 30 youth and senior internationals, has 7 graduates playing in Malawi’s top professional league and 8 graduates on athlete scholarships in the USA and Canada. Last summer, the Acent Soccer U16s went unbeaten and lifted the Rey Cup in Iceland, topping English League one academy Fleetwood Town 3-0 in the process.

Female players Rose Kadzere and Letica Chinyaluma were also nominated this month for the Female Emerging Talent award at the COSAFA awards held in Durban, as the Ascent U20 female side prepared for their FAM National Championship campaign, hoping to go one better— having lost on penalties in the final a year ago.