Spotted by Sporting Portugal during an African tour in 1954, the forward Léon Mokuna Mutombo scored 19 goals in 11 matches in Lisbon, before becoming the first player of Congolese origin to be selected for Belgium B, according to WikiSporting.
African football history has its share of little-known journeys. That of Léon Mokuna Mutombo, born in 1928 in Léopoldville, in the Belgian Congo, is one of them. Spotted by Sporting during the club’s African tour in the summer of 1954, the forward had previously faced the Lions with the Léopoldville national team, losing 1-3.
Mokuna arrived in Lisbon in October 1954, aged just 19. Bureaucratic reasons prevented him from making his debut before the start of 1955.
Nineteen goals in eleven matches
When he finally took to the pitch, the forward scored 19 goals in 11 matches. The following season, he played only two games and returned to the Congo.
A comparison courtesy of Joseph Szabo
On his arrival, the former Sporting coach Joseph Szabo stated that Mokuna was better than Peyroteo, the greatest scorer in the club’s history. A statement reported by WikiSporting, but one that remains a coach’s claim rather than an established fact.
For Peyroteo is no ordinary name in Lisbon. The comparison, however risky, speaks to the attention lavished on the young Congolese. Sporting’s African tour acted as the springboard.
A pioneer with Belgium B
He then continued his career in Belgium, at Gent and then Waregem, and became the first player of Congolese origin to be selected for Belgium B, according to WikiSporting.
This two-part journey, a brief spell at Sporting followed by a career in Belgium, makes Mokuna a special case. The available information specifies neither the end of his career nor the date of his death.
Sporting has not forgotten its pioneer. In November 2010, during the Lions’ trip to Belgium to face Gent in the Europa League, Léon Mokuna was honoured by the Portuguese club, more than fifty years after his spell in Lisbon.