By scoring both goals for his team in Uyo against Rivers United (2-0) in the first leg of the CAF Cup quarterfinals, Congolese Fiston Mayele has put Young Africans in a perfect position before the reunion against the Nigerians on Sunday. The Leopards' striker, who has had a very good season, is used to this.
Young Africans' dressing room is probably the most French-speaking in English-speaking Africa. The coach is Tunisian (Nasreddine Nabi), Congolese from the DRC are six (Fiston Mayele, Yannick Litombo, Joyce Lomalisa, Tuisila Kisinda, Jesus Moloko, Djimma Shabani), and they rub shoulders with Malians Djigui Diarra and Mamadou Doumbia, Burundian Gael Bigirimana and Burkinabe Stephane Aziz Ki. "We speak English, French, Lingala and Swahili. I don't really speak English, but with the other three languages, it's easy to communicate," said Fiston Mayele (28).
Top scorer in the league and CAF Cup
It is also the most prolific, after a first year full of promise. Recruited from AS Vita Club in 2021, Mayele scored 20 goals in all competitions and won a few titles, including the Premier League and the Community Shield. But in 2022-2023, the Congolese international (2 caps) is doing even better. With four games to go in a championship that his team dominates, he is the top scorer (16 goals and 3 assists), to which must be added the one he scored in the Tanzanian Cup.
However, Mayele is not content with just blazing on the domestic scene. In the first two Champions League preliminary rounds, the Mbuji-Mayi native shattered Zalan's South Sudanese defense (4-0, 5-0) with six goals, and then scored another goal against Al-Hilal of Sudan (1-1, 0-1). He added five more in the CAF Cup, making him the competition's top scorer, tied with South Africa's Ranga Chivaviro (Marumo Gallants), whom he could face in the semifinals (May 10 and 17).
"This is my best season since I've been a professional"
So Mayele is convinced, he is having the best season of his career. "I'm scoring goals, which is helping the team win. Yes, I think this is my best season since I've been a professional. And at the collective level, we still have many objectives: to keep our title, win the National Cup and continue our journey in the CAF Cup. With our victory in Nigeria, we are well placed, but the coach said that if we managed to win there, Rivers United can very well make a comeback. We are all very focused. There is a lot of passion in Dar Es Salaam around this match, the stadium will probably be full, with 60,000 spectators, but I assure you that we do not believe that qualification is a foregone conclusion," explains the striker, whose performances have logically attracted the attention of foreign clubs, including Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. "I am under contract until June 30, 2024, but my leaders would agree to release me if they receive a good proposal," continues the striker, whose value is estimated between 400,000 and 500,000 euros.
Sebastien Desabre appreciates this "complete striker"
If he scores a lot of goals in Tanzania, Mayele also did so in DR Congo, and in particular at AS Vita Club, where Florent Ibenge had brought him from AS Simba Kolwezi (Ligue 2). "I had joined in 2018 Kinshasa and Vita Club, while I did not speak Lingala. Kinshasa is a huge city, and at Vita, there is enormous pressure, but I had still scored 12 goals in the league the first season, and as many the next, plus three in the Champions League."
A performance appreciated by Sebastien Desabre, the coach of DR Congo, and who called Mayele for the two matches against Mauritania (3-1, 1-1), qualifiers for the AFCON 2023. "I can assure you that you have to be solid to be a striker at Vita Club, where there is enormous pressure on the players in the offensive sector. But that doesn't surprise me because Fiston is a player who is not only a complete, powerful and efficient striker with an axial profile, but he is also a very professional boy, who has a good head on his shoulders and knows what he wants."
In Dar Es Salaam, a city known to be less turbulent and safer than Kinshasa, Mayele took a few weeks to find his feet. "It wasn't easy at first. I arrived in a new country and had to discover a new league. As I speak Swahili, like the Tanzanians, and there were already a few French-speaking players in the squad, it made things easier. Today, I feel comfortable, I feel good in this city and in this country, where the level of the championship is progressing and is undoubtedly higher than that of DRC, with clubs like Young Africans, Simba or Azam in particular, who are putting in significant resources."
In Tanzania, he has seen his salary increase substantially and his performances have allowed him to be called up to the senior team, while he was selected with the local Leopards to compete in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cameroon in 2021.
