FACT FILE

Date of Birth – December 3, 1967
Place of Birth – Mufulira
Playing Position – Winger
Residence – Switzerland
Club Career
Butondo Western Tigers
Mufulira Wanderers
FC Fribourg (Switzerland)
FC Zürich (Switzerland)
FC Bulle (Switzerland)
SC Kriens (Switzerland)
FC Sion (Switzerland)
National Team
1987 – 1997
Achievements
1986 – Footballer of the Year (Mufulira Wanderers)
1994 – Africa Cup of Nations silver medalist
1996 – Africa Cup of Nations silver medalist
1997 – COSAFA Cup winning captain
After attending Kantanshi Secondary School in Mufulira, Johnson Bwalya kicked off his football career at hometown club, Butondo Western Tigers.
In 1986, he joined Mufulira Wanderers and won Footballer of the Year accolande in his first season at the club.
At the end of the season he signed for Swiss club FC Fribourg.
Bwalya made his debut for Zambia in April 1987 in an All Africa Games qualifier against Malawi in Lusaka and was part of the Zambian team that qualified to the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
He scored a goal in Zambia’s 4-0 win against Italy on their way to becoming the first African team to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Kalusha Bwalya struck the other three goals. After slipping past a defender, Bwalya hit a wonderful shot from nearly 35 yards that swerved and dipped just under the crossbar.
In the game against West Germany which Zambia lost 4-0, Bwalya got injured and would not feature for Zambia for the next four years.
But upon recovering, Bwalya regained his form and was back in the squad.
He was also part of the reconstituted Zambian team in 1993 after the entire squad perished off the coast of Gabon.
When a new team was assembled it was Johnson and Kalusha who led the team, both of them scoring in a match against Morocco with the combative winger getting the winning goal with a 25 metre thunderbolt in 2-1 win.
Johnson, who earned a nickname, ‘One Man Commando’ because of the way he used to take on the opposition, was part of the team finished second at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia.
Two years later, he was also in the team that got bronze in South Africa.
When new coach German Burkhard Ziese took over the reigns of the national team in late 1997, he accused Bwalya of having a wrong attitude by not attending a team meeting and dropped him from the team travelling to the 1998 AFCON where Zambia were knocked out in the group stages.