Kalusha Bwalya


Kalusha Bwalya is a Zambian former professional 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 Footballer of the Year in 1988 by the magazine France Football 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 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 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 and article 20 of the FIFA Code of Ethics. It is alleged that Bwalya received a bribe in the form of a gift from Mohammed Bin Hammam, 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, and he describes winning the championship twice in 1990/91 and 1991/92, under Bobby Robson, 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 and Hans van Breukelen 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-tricks 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 hat-trick in a 4–0 victory against Italy. At the full international level, he appeared in 87 international matches and scored 39 goals from 1983 to 2004. He debuted against Sudan in April 1983 at Dag Hammarskjoeld Stadium in a Cup of Nations qualifier in Ndola, and scored his first goal against Uganda 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.
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 off Gabon. As he was playing for PSV Eindhoven, 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, Kalusha came off the bench during the second half against Liberia to score from a trademark direct free kick to give Zambia a 1–0 victory and the lead of Africa's Group 1. In doing so at the age of 41 years and 19 days, he became the third-oldest international goalscorer in world football, only behind England's Stanley Matthews in 1956 and Cameroon's Roger Milla in 1994, aged 42. However, Zambia finished third and failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

Coaching and administrative career

Bwalya coached Zambia at the 2006 African Cup of Nations. Following their elimination in the first round, Bwalya resigned from his post. He then contributed to the 2006 World Cup as a member of FIFA’s Technical Study Group and later served as one of the ambassadors for the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa. Bwalya continued serving as vice president of the Football Association of Zambia until 2008, when he was elected president following strong pressure and support from FAZ members and the media. On 23 February 2008, he was elected to the CAF Executive Committee.
Bwalya served as a standing committee member of both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football. He was president of the Football Association of Zambia from 2008 to 2016, having previously served as vice president. In 2016, he unsuccessfully sought a third term as FAZ president, losing the election to Andrew Kamanga at the FAZ Annual General Meeting.
Bwalya's long-held ambition of winning the Africa Cup of Nations was realized in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, when the Zambia national team defeated the heavily favored Ivory Coast in the final. As president of the Football Association of Zambia, he joined the players in lifting the trophy in Gabon, the same country where members of the national team perished in the 1993 air disaster. This emotional journey is documented in the film Eighteam, directed by Juan Rodriguez-Briso.

Career statistics

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1Ndola, Zambia3–03–01986 FIFA World Cup qualification
2Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria, Egypt2–22–31986 Africa Cup of Nations
3Lusaka, Zambia–3–11987 All-Africa Games
4Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia–2–01988 Summer Olympics qualification
5Daejeon Hanbat Sports Complex, Daejeon, South Korea2–12–21988 Summer Olympics
6Gwangju Mudeung Stadium, Gwangju, South Korea1–04–01988 Summer Olympics
7Gwangju Mudeung Stadium, Gwangju, South Korea2–04–01988 Summer Olympics
8Gwangju Mudeung Stadium, Gwangju, South Korea4–04–01988 Summer Olympics
9Gwangju Mudeung Stadium, Gwangju, South Korea2–04–01988 Summer Olympics
10Gwangju Mudeung Stadium, Gwangju, South Korea3–04–01988 Summer Olympics
11Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia4–14–21990 FIFA World Cup qualification
12Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia2–12–11990 FIFA World Cup qualification
13Estádio da Cidadela, Luanda, Angola1–02–11992 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
14Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia2–02–11992 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
15Stade Aline Sitoe Diatta, Ziguinchor, Senegal1–01–01992 Africa Cup of Nations
16CCM Kirumba Stadium, Mwanza, Tanzania1–03–11994 FIFA World Cup qualification
17Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia3–04–01994 FIFA World Cup qualification
18Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia2–03–11994 FIFA World Cup qualification
19Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia1–12–11994 FIFA World Cup qualification
20Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia2–03–01994 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
21National Sports Stadium, Harare, Zimbabwe1–11–11994 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
22Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia4–04–01994 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
23El Menzah Stadium, Tunis, Tunisia3–04–01994 Africa Cup of Nations
24Stade George V, Curepipe, Mauritius1–03–01996 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
25Stade George V, Curepipe, Mauritius3–03–01996 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
26Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia1–01–01996 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
27Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa2–05–11996 Africa Cup of Nations
28Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa3–05–11996 Africa Cup of Nations
29Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa1–04–01996 Africa Cup of Nations
30Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa2–04–01996 Africa Cup of Nations
31Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa3–04–01996 Africa Cup of Nations
32Stade Général Aboubacar Sangoulé Lamizana, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso2–03–11998 Africa Cup of Nations
33Lagos National Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria2–22–22000 Africa Cup of Nations
34Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia3–13–12004 COSAFA Cup
35Independence Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia1–01–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification