Icon Focus: Kalusha the 'Idol' of Zambian Football

He is one of the best if not the best talent to have ever been exported from Zambia to the world. Those who watched him play football regard him as the ultimate talent Zambia has ever had. His name is Kalusha Bwalya. But because of his extremely football talent people call him Great Kalu.

Kalusha is a former Zambian international who is regarded as the eighth-most capped player and third on the list of all-time top goalscorers behind Godfrey Chitalu and Alex Chola. 

Kalusha who was recently named as one of the best Eleven of all times by a Zambian magazine Bola Tabloid was born in the Copperbelt to be precisely Mufulira on August 16, 1963.

He started his football career at local side Mighty Mufulira Wanderers which is Zambia's second most successful club of all times.

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".

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."

During the 2012 Africa Cup, Bwalya was the President of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) when Zambia won the African trophy for he first time.

In terms of honours, Bwalya is the only player from East, South, and Central part of Africa to win the much coverted Africa Footballer of the Year award. He was subsequently nominated as the 12th Best Player in the World.

In 1996, he was the top scorer at the Africa Cup of Nation's. Bwalya also several individual awards at Circle Brucge, PSV Eindoven and Might Mufulira Wanderers. Besides, Kalusha won several league trophies with the aforementioned clubs.

He retired from active football in 2004 and had some coaching jobs with Zambia national team which was nonetheless not successful.

Kalusha Bwalya

Despite his failing coaching career, Kalusha, is often idolised as the father of Zambian football.