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.[2][3] 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.[2][3][4]
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.[5][6][7][8] 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!).[6][9] 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.[2][10] 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.[2][4][11] 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.[2][12]
In June 2007 he did not attend Dinamo's pre-season reunion after the summer break.[5] 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.[2][5][4][13] He played constantly for them, a highlight being an assist to
Jorge Ribeiro's goal in the 2–0 win over
Sporting Lisbon.[2][14] 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.[2][15]
Zé Kalanga returned at Dinamo in September 2008, but he played rarely in one season and a half spent at the club.[2][5][4][16] 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.[2]
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.[3][18] 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.[3][19][22] For his performances in 2006, Zé Kalanga was awarded by an Angolan radio with the "Newcomer of the year" title.[23]
He made four appearances and scored one goal in a 6–1 win over
Eritrea at the successful
2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.[3] 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.[24] 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.[3][25] 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.[3][26] 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.[3]
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[3]
^"Victorie din scurt" [Victory in short] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 15 August 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2023. "Derby rosu" [Red derby] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 20 September 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2023.