Background and career
Kalusha Bwalya (born 16 August 1963) is a Zambian former professional footballer. He is 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 (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 banned Bwalya for a year from all football-related activities at both national and international level. The FIFA adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee alleged he 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, a Qatari official. However, he was later cleared and found not guilty of any violation.
Kalusha is considered one of the greatest players in Zambian football history.
