Benjamin Bwalya
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Benjamin Bwalya Jnr (30 August 1961 – 9 February 1999) was a Zambian footballer and coach. Bwalya was the son of soccer administrator Benjamin Bwalya Snr and the elder brother of celebrated former Zambian player
Kalusha Bwalya Kalusha Bwalya (born 16 August 1963) 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 Foot ...
. The youngest brother
Joel Bwalya Joel Kangala Bwalya (born 24 October 1972) is a Zambian football coach and former player who has been the manager of Kafue Celtic since August 2021. Early and personal life Bwalya grew up in Mufulira with two older brothers who were both also f ...
was also a footballer. He played his club football for Mufulira Blackpool,
Mufulira Wanderers Mufulira Wanderers are Zambia's most successful football club, based in the Copperbelt town of Mufulira, and compete in the Zambia Super League after their promotion from the Zambia National Division One at the end of 2023–24. Popularly kno ...
and
Nchanga Rangers Nchanga Rangers is a Zambian football club based in Chingola that plays in the MTN/FAZ Super Division. They play their home games at Nchanga Stadium in Chingola. The club is sponsored by Konkola Copper Mines. Achievements *Zambian Premier Leag ...
, and after retirement he became Konkola Blades’ coach.


Early life

Bwalya was born in
Mufulira Mufulira is a town in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. Mufulira means "Place of Abundance and Peace". The town developed around the Mufulira Copper Mine in the 1930s. The town also serves as the administrative capital of Mufulira District. G ...
to Benjamin Bwalya Sr and Elidah Bwalya and when the family moved to
Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia in terms of size and population, with a population of 627,503 (''2022 census''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the I ...
he went to Kansenshi Primary School from 1968 to 1974. He did his secondary school education at Mufulira Secondary from 1975 and upon completion, went for the compulsory national service training camp in 1981. In 1978, his father travelled to
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
with Wanderers and bought Bwalya his first pair of
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...
boots, a pair which he treasured and swore to keep and hang in his house for his children to see.Sumaili, Ephraim. “The Bwalya boys – footballers extraordinary,” ''Times of Zambia,'' 24 September 1981 p.8


Playing career

Bwalya joined Mufulira Blackpool in 1978 where it was quite a challenge playing alongside names like John Lengwe, Simon Kaushi and the player he admired the most, Alex Chola. His young brother Kalusha would follow to watch him play and he eventually joined Blackpool as well. Bwalya could play all forward positions but featured mainly as a right winger, in contrast to his left-footed younger brother who was solely a left winger. In 1981 they moved to the mine-sponsored giants Wanderers at the behest of their father, who felt they were better off playing for the club that was sponsored by the company he worked for. That same year, he travelled to
Lubumbashi Lubumbashi ( , ; former ; former ) is the second-largest Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia. The capital ...
with Wanderers and they took part in two friendlies against St. Louis Lupopo and
TP Mazembe Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional association football, football club based in Lubumbashi. History Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a ...
. It was during this tour that he earned the nickname ‘Boga’ after which he admitted that he did not bother to find out what it meant but the name spread like wildfire in Mufulira. The hugely talented Bwalya left Wanderers in 1984 for
Chingola Chingola is a town in Zambia's Copperbelt Province, the country's copper-mining region, with a population of 256,560 (2022 census). It is the home of Nchanga Copper Mine, a deep-shaft high-grade content copper mining operation, which subsequen ...
-based Premier League rivals Nchanga Rangers who he would play for until 1991 after which he retired from playing and coached briefly as one of the assistants at Rangers before joining Konkola Blades in 1992 as coach.


National team

Bwalya made a single appearance for Zambia in a friendly against Malawi in 1985 in Ndola which ended in a 1–1 draw. Although he was often called to the national team, he never featured for Zambia again. In January 1987, he was dropped from the national team, prompting him to question the national team selectors. “You must have full-backs to stay in the national team ... some of the players in the so-called national team are not talented at all.”


Coaching career

Upon retirement, Bwalya took up coaching and briefly worked as one of the assistants at Nchanga Stadium before moving to neighbouring Konkola Blades as head coach. Under him, Blades developed into a strong team and won the 1998 Mosi Cup after beating
Zanaco FC Zanaco FC is a Zambian football (soccer), football club based in Lusaka that plays in the Zambian Premier League, MTN/FAZ Super Division. They play their home games at Sunset Stadium in Lusaka. Zanaco Football Club was formed in 1972 as a social ...
2–1 in Lusaka. He also served as coach for the U-17 and U-20 national teams and worked as one of the assistant coaches to
Roald Poulsen Roald Poulsen (28 November 1950 – 16 October 2024) was a Danish football manager, who most prominently won the 1989 Danish championship with Odense BK and managed the Zambia national team. Career Poulsen started his coaching career with am ...
at the senior national team. He was also appointed assistant coach to Ben Bamfuchile in 1998.


Death

In January 1999, Bwalya travelled with the national team to
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
for a CAN qualifier. On the day of the match, he fell ill and missed the game which Zambia won 2–1. When the team returned, he was admitted to Malcolm Watson Hospital with suspected cerebral malaria on January 27. Bwalya died in hospital on the night of 9 February 1999. The passing of the young coach who was just coming into his own was described as a terrible loss to the football fraternity.Mwanza, Richards and Katongola, Brenda. “Benjamin Bwalya dies”, ''Times of Zambia,'' 11 February 1999, p.12


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bwalya, Benjamin 1961 births Zambian men's footballers Zambia men's international footballers Zambian football managers 1999 deaths Men's association football forwards Footballers from Mufulira