Johnson Bwalya (born 3 December 1967) is a Zambian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a forward. He spent most of his career in Switzerland while representing the Zambia national team internationally. With Zambia, he participated at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Club career

Born in

Mufulira Mufulira, is a town in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. Mufulira means "Place of Abundance and Peace". The town developed around the Mufulira Copper Mine in the 1930s. The town also serves as the administrative capital of Mufulira District. ...

, Bwalya attended Kantanshi Secondary school and began his career at hometown club Butondo Western Tigers. In 1986, he joined

Mufulira Wanderers Mufulira Wanderers are Zambia's most successful football club, based in the Copperbelt town of Mufulira and currently playing in the Zambia National Division One after their 2019/2020 season relegation. Popularly known as Mighty Mufulira Wan ...

, winning Footballer of the Year in his first season at the club. At the end of the season, he signed for Swiss club

FC Fribourg FC Fribourg is a Swiss football club from the town of Fribourg in the Canton of Fribourg. In the 2022/23 season, the team is playing in 2. Liga Interregional, the fifth highest tier in the Swiss football pyramid. History The club was foun ...

. He later played for

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

FC Bulle FC Bulle is a Swiss football club, based in Bulle. Their home ground is the Stade de Bouleyres. History Founded in 1910, they last played in the Swiss top tier in 1992–93. That was ten years after their previous spell at the highest level. ...

SC Kriens SC Kriens is a football club based in Kriens, Switzerland, who currently play in the Swiss Challenge League. They currently play at the Stadion Kleinfeld and form a local rivalry with FC Lucerne. SC Kriens women's team plays in the Nationallig ...

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league s ...

, and

SR Delémont SR Delémont is a Swiss football club based in Delémont and founded in 1909. It played in the Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the ...

International career

Bwalya made his debut for the Zambia national team in April 1987 in an All Africa Games qualifier against

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

in Lusaka and was part of the Zambia team that qualified to the

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

. He scored a goal in Zambia's 4–0 win against Italy on their way to becoming the first African team to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.Johnson Bwalya
Sports-Reference.com After slipping past a defender, Bwalya hit a shot from nearly 35 yards that swerved and dipped just under the crossbar. In the game against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

which Zambia lost 4–0, he was injured. He did not feature for Zambia for the next four years. Upon his recovery, Bwalya regained his form and won back his place in the national team and was to join up with the team for the Senegal game only to learn that the plane carrying the team had plunged into the sea in the Gabon disaster. When a new team was assembled it was Bwalya and

Kalusha Bwalya Kalusha Bwalya (born 16 August 1963) is a Zambian former international footballer. He is Zambia's eighth-most capped player and third on the list of all-time top goalscorers behind Godfrey Chitalu and Alex Chola. Kalusha was named African Fo ...

that led the team, both of them scoring in a match against Morocco with Bwalya getting the winning goal with a 25-metre shot in 2–1 win. Bwalya was part of the team that reached the final of the

1994 African Cup of Nations The 1994 African Cup of Nations was the 19th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Tunisia, who replaced original hosts Zaire. Just as in 1992, the field of twelve teams was ...

in Tunisia and was a stand-in captain in Kalusha's absence as the team also qualified to the

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, ...

in South Africa where they lost to

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

in the semi-finals. At the 1996 African Cup of Nations, Bwalya was part of a Zambian team that won the bronze medal, scoring 15 goals in the process and defeating

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

3–1 in a come from behind quarter-final victory. In 1997, Zambia drew a World Cup qualifier with South Africa 0–0 at Independence Stadium in Lusaka amid reports of a falling out between Bwalya and

, with Bwalya unhappy with the latter's influence on team selection. Later that year, Bwalya as captain led Zambia and lifted the inaugural COSAFA Castle Cup. When new coach German

Burkhard Ziese Burkhard Ziese (1 February 1944 – 19 April 2010) was a German association football, football manager (association football), manager. Ziese managed Malawi national football team, Malawi during the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying round. ...

took over the reins of the national team in late 1997, he accused Bwalya of having the wrong attitude by not attending a team meeting and dropped him from the team travelling to

1998 African Cup of Nations The 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso was the 21st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), the national football championship of Africa, administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Just like in 1996, the field o ...

where Zambia was knocked out in the group stages.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bwalya, Johnson 1967 births Living people People from Mufulira Zambian footballers Association football forwards Zambia international footballers Olympic footballers of Zambia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players FC Fribourg players FC Sion players FC Bulle players SC Kriens players FC Luzern players SR Delémont players Zambian expatriate footballers Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland