{"id":87259,"date":"2023-11-24T22:11:42","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T20:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-never-thought-i-will-give-a-speech-at-georges-funeral-billiat-pays-tribute-to-chigova"},"modified":"2023-11-25T01:44:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T23:44:07","slug":"i-never-thought-i-will-give-a-speech-at-georges-funeral-billiat-pays-tribute-to-chigova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-never-thought-i-will-give-a-speech-at-georges-funeral-billiat-pays-tribute-to-chigova","title":{"rendered":"“I Never Thought I Will Give A Speech At George’s Funeral”, Billiat Pays Tribute To Chigova"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>Former Warriors star Khama Billiat<\/b> broke down in tears as he gave an emotional speech at the funeral service for his friend and ex-national teammate George Chigova<\/b> at Rufaro Stadium in Harare on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Chigova, who played for Dynamos before continuing his career at South African clubs, died in his sleep at his home in the neighbouring country last week due to heart complications, reported NewsDay<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The former SuperSport United goalkeeper, who died at the age of 32, left behind wife Noku and three daughters.<\/p>\n

Chigova\u2019s body was flown into the country on Wednesday morning. Hundreds of people, including family members, relatives, former and current players, and other football officials were at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to welcome the body.<\/p>\n

Billiat who was Chigova\u2019s close friend, having started their careers together at Aces Youth Academy when they were kids, was part of the crowd at Rufaro Stadium.<\/p>\n

Billiat struggled with his emotions as he paid tribute to \u201cJojola\u201d as Chigova was affectionately called by his teammates and football fans. He said:<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have many words, but just to say rest in peace, George. I never thought that I would give a speech at George\u2019s funeral… that I would bury George. Rest easy George and you must know that we will love you until we meet again.<\/p>\n

Supporters, family, friends, Chigova\u2019s former colleagues, officials from Dynamos, Footballers Union of Zimbabwe, ZIFA and the Premier Soccer League (PSL) were at the stadium, where Chigova made his name before moving to South Africa, to pay their last respects.<\/p>\n

Aces Youth Academy director Nigel Munyati described Chigova as \u201ca gentle giant\u201d.<\/p>\n

Other speakers included former Warriors team manager Wellington Mpandare, Premier Soccer League CEO Kenny Ndebele, Footballers Union of Zimbabwe and Dynamos chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze, and ZIFA Normalisation Committee member Rosemary Mugadza.<\/p>\n

Chigova played for big clubs such as Dynamos, SuperSport United and Polokwane City.<\/p>\n

He helped the Warriors win the COSAFA Cup in 2018 and was voted the best goalkeeper of the tournament.<\/p>\n

He was also the Warriors\u2019 first-choice keeper at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Egypt.<\/p>\n

The \u201cgentle giant\u201d was set to be laid to rest this Friday in Chivhu, Mashonaland East Province.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Former Warriors star Khama Billiat broke down in tears as he gave an emotional speech at the funeral service for his friend and ex-national teammate George Chigova at Rufaro Stadium in Harare on Thursday. Chigova, who played for Dynamos before continuing his career at South African clubs, died in his sleep at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":87258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[1493,2189,13161,1121,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-87259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-sport","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-george-chigova","12":"tag-khama-billiat","13":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\n"I Never Thought I Will Give A Speech At George's Funeral", Billiat Pays Tribute To Chigova - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Warriors star Khama Billiat broke down in tears as he gave an emotional speech at the funeral service for ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-never-thought-i-will-give-a-speech-at-georges-funeral-billiat-pays-tribute-to-chigova\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""I Never Thought I Will Give A Speech At George's Funeral", Billiat Pays Tribute To Chigova\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Warriors star Khama Billiat broke down in tears as he gave an emotional speech at the funeral service for ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-never-thought-i-will-give-a-speech-at-georges-funeral-billiat-pays-tribute-to-chigova\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-24T20:11:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-24T23:44:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/11\/sm_1700853099.900496.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"332\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-never-thought-i-will-give-a-speech-at-georges-funeral-billiat-pays-tribute-to-chigova\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-never-thought-i-will-give-a-speech-at-georges-funeral-billiat-pays-tribute-to-chigova\",\"name\":\"\\\"I Never Thought I Will Give A Speech At George's Funeral\\\", Billiat Pays Tribute To Chigova - 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