Kalusha Bwalya (born 16 August 1963) 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 lea ...

. He is

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

's eighth-most capped player and third on the list of all-time top goalscorers behind

Godfrey Chitalu Godfrey Chitalu (22 October 1947 – 27 April 1993), nicknamed Ucar, was a Zambian Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is widely regarded as the greatest Zambian player of all time as he ...

and Alex Chola. Kalusha was named

African Footballer of the Year The African Footballer of the Year award, presented to the best African association football, footballer each year, has been conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1992. Samuel Eto'o and Yaya Touré have won the award the ...

in 1988 by the magazine ''

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

'' and was nominated for the 1996 FIFA World Player of the Year where he was voted the 12th-best player in the world, the first to be nominated after playing the entire year for a non-European club. His older brother Benjamin Bwalya played professional football, and his younger brother Joel Bwalya also played for Zambia. His cousin is former Cardiff City and Welsh national team member Robert Earnshaw. His career as a player, coach and president of the Football Association of Zambia is partly shown in the documentary film " Eighteam". On 20 March 2016, Kalusha lost the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) elections in an upset to businessman-turned football official Andrew Kamanga by 163 to 156 votes. In August 2018, the world football governing body

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

banned Bwalya for two years from all football-related activities at both national and international level. The FIFA adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee found him guilty of having violated article 16 (Confidentiality) and article 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) of the FIFA Code of Ethics. It is alleged that Bwalya received a bribe in the form of a gift from

Mohammed Bin Hammam Mohammed bin Hammam (; born 8 May 1949) is a Qatari former football administrator. He was president of the Asian Football Confederation from 2002 to 2011, and a member of FIFA's 24-man executive committee from 1996 to 2011. On 23 July 2011, B ...

, a Qatari official. Kalusha is considered one of the greatest players in Zambian football history.

Club career

Bwalya's career in Europe began at Cercle Brugge in Belgium. In his first season, he was the club's top scorer and was twice voted supporters' player of the year. Such was his impact that Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven took him to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

, and he describes winning the championship twice in 1990/91 and 1991/92, under

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town. ...

, as a career highlight. He jokingly adds that: "Most of the time we played in the opponents half, because the team was so good. You know, we had Romario, Gerald Vanenburg, Eric Gerets,

Wim Kieft Willem Cornelis Nicolaas "Wim" Kieft (born 12 November 1962) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Kieft went into punditry in 2001, occasionally appearing on football talk show '' Voetbal Inside'' A prolific ...

and

Hans van Breukelen Johannes Franciscus "Hans" van Breukelen (; born 4 October 1956) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was the technical director of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) from 2017 until 2018. Van Breuk ...

and just to be with that group, to train with them day in, day out, was an experience." Bwalya's next stop was Club America, to whom he moved in 1994. The Mexican club's home ground is the legendary Azteca, an arena of which the Zambian icon has very fond memories. As he told FIFA.com: "I am privileged to have played in the best stadium in the world – and to have been able to call it my home ground." The Mexico experience in general was cherished by Bwalya, who devoted almost eight years of his career to the country and recalls his time there as "probably the best of my life". Despite his good performances at América and gaining a status of a fan favorite. Kalusha is also remembered for missing an empty net goal by striking the post against Cruz Azul. On the international front, his earliest achievement was arguably one of the most remarkable

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

s in modern football history, with three-times World Cup champions Italy on the receiving end in a 4–0 win for the Zambians at the 1988 Olympics. Bwalya acknowledges that the result was a surprise, but adds: "Zambia is a sleeping giant in a way. It is a small country in terms of football, but we were the first African team to beat a European power as convincingly as that."

International career

Bwalya was a member of the national squad that participated at the 1988 Olympic Games, making his mark with a famous

in a 4–0 victory against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. At the full international level, he appeared in 87 international matches and scored 39 goals from 1983 to 2004. He debuted against

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

in April 1983 at Dag Hammarskjoeld Stadium in a Cup of Nations qualifier in Ndola, and scored his first goal against

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

in a World Cup qualifier the following year at the same venue. He has appeared in multiple tournaments, including six editions of the

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

. Although he was captain of the national football team during the qualification matches for the 1994 World Cup, Kalusha was not on the ill-fated flight on 28 April 1993 when the entire team and its management were killed when the plane crashed into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

off Gabon. As he was playing for

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

, his schedule had him flying from the Netherlands to Senegal to join the team instead of being on the team plane. Kalusha took on the mantle of spearheading the revival of the national side the following year, captaining the side to the Runners-Up spot at the CAF African Nations Cup 1994 in Tunisia—where they succumbed to the Nigeria national team; this was to be the peak of his own career and Zambian football for a long time to come. The national team finished in 3rd place at the next edition of the Africa Cup in South Africa in 1996, with Kalusha winning the Golden Boot Award as the top scorer at the tournament. He was a player-coach during the African 2006 World Cup qualification matches. On 5 September 2004, Zambia played

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

, and the match was tied 0–0 minutes before the end. Kalusha, aged 41, came off the bench during the second half, scoring from a trademark

direct free kick A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the Laws of the Game (association football), laws by the opposing team. Direct and indirect free kicks Free kicks may be either dire ...

to give Zambia a 1–0 victory and the lead of Africa's

Group 1 Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (motorsport), a regulation set of the FIA for series-production touring cars used in motorsport. * Group One Thoroughbred horse races, the leading e ...

. However, Zambia finished third and failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Despite the failure to qualify, Bwalya coached Zambia at the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split in ...

. Following their elimination in the first round, however, Bwalya resigned from his post. Kalusha's dream of holding the coveted AFCON trophy came 2012 when the Zambia National Football Team, which was underestimated by many football pundits upset the star-studded Ivory Coast to win the final of the 2012 tournament. As Zambian FA President, he joined the players and lifted the cup in a country where his former teammates perished in an aircraft disaster. This emotional story is narrated in the documentary film " Eighteam", directed by Juan Rodriguez-Briso. He has nevertheless remained actively involved in international football, contributing to the 2006 World Cup as a member of FIFA's Technical Study Group. He was also one of the ambassadors of the 2010 World Cup which was held in South Africa.

Administrative career

Bwalya serves as a standing committee member at

and the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

and as of 2008 was the president of the Football Association of Zambia from 2008 to 2016. He lost the FA presidency to Andrew Kamanga when he attempted a third term bid in office during the 2016 FAZ AGM. Previously he was vice president. In the first half of 2006, Bwalya resigned from his position as the Zambia coach but having served as vice president of the Football Association of Zambia until 2008, he was voted in to be president as of 2008. This was as a result of pressure from members of the Football Association of Zambia as well as the media. On 23 February 2008, he was elected into the CAF Executive Committee.

Career Statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Zambia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bwalya goal.''

Honours

Mufulira Wanderers * Zambian Challenge Cup: 1984 PSV *

: 1990–91, 1991–92 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 1989–90 * Dutch Supercup:

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Individual * Pop Poll d'Echte Cercle Brugge K.S.V. Player of the Year: 1986–87, 1987–88 *

: 1988 *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

Team of the Tournament: 1986,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

* Africa Cup of Nations Top Scorer: 1996

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bwalya, Kalusha 1963 births Living people Footballers from Mufulira Zambian men's footballers Zambia men's international footballers Zambian football managers Mufulira Wanderers F.C. players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Club América footballers Club Necaxa footballers C.D. Irapuato footballers C.D. Veracruz footballers Correcaminos UAT footballers Club León footballers Liga MX players PSV Eindhoven players Al Wahda FC players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Olympic footballers for Zambia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics 1986 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players Zambian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Zambian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Zambian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Zambia national football team managers African Footballer of the Year winners 2006 Africa Cup of Nations managers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers UAE Pro League players