Generally simply known as “Kalusha”, Bwalya is Zambia’s most successful football player ever. With the Zambian team, he upset Italy in the preliminary round of the 1988 Olympics, scoring a hat-trick in the 4-0 shock victory. Although eliminated in the quarter-finals, it earned Kalusha a transfer to PSV, winners of the European Cup that year. He played for the Dutch side for 6 seasons, winning three championships. Because he played in Europe, Kalusha was not on the disastrous flight in April 1993 that killed most of the Zambian internationals while flying to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal. Kalusha spearheaded the rebuilding of the national team, and captained the side to a berth in the final of the 1994 African Cup of Nations, where Nigeria’s Super Eagles beat them. After that season, he continued his career in Mexico, except for a brief spell in Abu Dhabi. He was nominated as a playing coach of the Zambian national side in 2004, but failed to qualify for the World Cup. After a first round exit in the 2006 African Cup of Nations, Bwalya resigned from this post.
Zambia