*** Welcome to piglix ***

Benjamin Bwalya

Benjamin Bwalya
Personal information
Full name Benjamin Bwalya Jnr
Date of birth 25 August 1961
Place of birth Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia
Date of death 9 February 1999
Place of death Mufulira, Zambia
Playing position Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1980 Mufulira Blackpool FC
1981–1983 Mufulira Wanderers
1984–1991 Nchanga Rangers
Teams managed
1992–1999 Konkola Blades
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Benjamin Bwalya Jnr (25 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. He played his club football for Mufulira Blackpool, Mufulira Wanderers and Nchanga Rangers, and after retirement he became Konkola Blades’ coach.

Bwalya was born in Mufulira to Benjamin Bwalya Sr and Elidah Bwalya and when the family moved to Ndola 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 with Wanderers and bought Bwalya his first pair of Adidas boots, a pair which he treasured and swore to keep and hang in his house for his children to see.

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 with Wanderers and they took part in two friendlies against St. Louis Lupopo and TP Mazembe. 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-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.

Bwalya made a single appearance for Zambia in a friendly against Malawi in 1985 in Ndola which ended in a 1-1 draw.


...
Wikipedia

...