|
Kalusha Bwalya (The King Kalu) is a former Zambian International footballer, footballer coach and current president of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ). He is Zambia's second most capped player after Joseph Musonda, second all-time top goalscorer behind Godfrey Chitalu, and is regarded as the greatest Zambian footballer of all time. He 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 the Zambia national football team. His cousin is former Cardiff City and Welsh national football team international Robert Earnshaw. His career as a player, coach and president of the Football Association of Zambia is partly shown in the documentary film "Eighteam". ==International career== Bwalya was a member of the national squad that participated at the 1988 Olympic Games, making his mark with a most famous hat-trick in a 4–0 victory against Italy. At the full international level, he appeared in 147 international matches and scored 100 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 27 April 1993 when the entire team and its management were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Gabon. Kalusha Bwalya, Africa's most famous "Number 11", 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 Super Eagles of Nigeria; 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 jointly winning the Golden Boot Award as the topscorer at the tournament. He was a player-coach during the African 2006 World Cup qualification matches. On 5 September 2004, Zambia played Liberia, 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 to give Zambia a 1–0 victory and the lead of Africa's Group 1.〔("Late winner puts Zambia top" ) – liberiansoccer.com〕 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. 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kalusha Bwalya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|