Thomas Bwalya

Thomas Bwalya (11 April 1949 – 3 February 2023) was a Zambian footballer who won several trophies with Mufulira Wanderers and is one of the club's most decorated players. Featuring as an attacking midfielder, he played a key role in Wanderers’ dominance in the sixties and seventies and also represented Zambia. He was the younger brother of another Wanderers and Zambia forward Willie Kunda.

Early life Bwalya was born in Mufulira where his father Thomas Chipayeni worked as a miner and had also played football for Mufulira Tigers, now known as Mufulira Blackpool.

The second born in a family of eight, Bwalya grew up in Section Five of the mine township where he began playing football at Lubuto Welfare Centre, while at Kankoyo Primary School.

Finding it difficult to balance school with the demands of playing for a top football club, Bwalya dropped out in the tenth grade to focus on his career at Wanderers, where the coaches felt that the tricky and nimble-footed Bwalya was better suited in the middle of the pitch so he was moved to inside-right and sometimes played as a center-forward. He cemented his place in the team and went on to play a key role in Wanderers’ success and as he grew in stature, soccer commentator Dennis Liwewe nicknamed him ‘Mosquito’ because of his slender frame and long legs. He would go on to win won two more league titles in 1976 and 1978.

In 1977, Wanderers faced Algerian club Mouloudia Club d'Alger in the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Champions Clubs and after losing the first leg 2–1 in Algiers, Bwalya scored the first goal as Wanderers won the second leg 2–0 in Ndola to become the first Zambian club to make it to the semi-finals of the continental competition. Bwalya starred when he scored a hat-trick in Wanderers 5–2 triumph over Ghana's Hearts of Oak in the semi-final first leg match in Lusaka but they lost the second leg by three unanswered goals to bow out on away goals.

Bwalya's influence saw him being nominated for the 1977 African Footballer of the Year award and he came out 5th in the voting, which was won by Tunisia's Dhiab Tarek.

The following season, Bwalya won the league, the Challenge Cup and the Champion of Champions trophy and he featured in the team that made it to the African Cup Winners' Cup semifinals where they lost to Algerian side Nasr Athlétique de Hussein Dey after winning the first leg 2-1 and losing the second leg 1–0 to once again bow out on away goals once again.

In March 1979, Bwalya missed Wanderers 4–0 victory away to Tanzania's Simba in the first leg of their Africa Champions Clubs Cup second round tie with a knee injury and with the second leg seemingly a foregone conclusion, the team's management interfered with team selection and forced Bwalya to play, although he was still recovering from his injury. It was also decided to move the match to Lusaka.

The result was a devastating 5-0 reversal as Wanderers bowed out in humiliation. It turned out to be Bwalya's last game for the club as the emergence of younger players like Willie Mukwasa, Evans Katebe and Tshikala Mwanza, limited his opportunities. In his time at Wanderers, he won f0ur league titles, six Castle Cups, four Challenge Cups, two Heinrich Cups, four Champion of Champions Cups and four Charity Shields. The loan deal was supposed to be up to the end of the season but with Bwalya still working for Mufulira mine, his employers chose not to release him from work early during the week so he was unable to train with his new team. As a result, he quit football in frustration after a few games.

He featured again for Zambia against Congolese club side Daring Faucons in a three-match series in October 1969 and scored twice as Zambia won the first game 4–1 at Ndola's Dag Hammarskjoeld Stadium. Soon after this match, Bwalya was one of three players who left the national team's camp at Luanshimba School. While Godfrey Chitalu left because he felt unwell, Bwalya and goalkeeper Tolomeo Mwansa decided to check into Nkana Hotel after an altercation with Kabwe Warriors’ players Sebastian Mutale and Kenny Banda over the captaincy of the squad.

According to Bwalya and Mwansa, the two Warriors’ players felt that instead of Wanderers’ Dickson Makwaza, the Zambian captain should have come from their club, since they had contributed six players to the team, which angered the two Wanderers players and words were exchanged.

In 2022, Bwalya started experiencing poor health and was afflicted with a chest infection from which he never recovered, and he died on 3 February 2023.

Honours Zambian League Championship: 4 1967, 1969, 1976, 1978

Zambian Cup (Castle Cup/Independence Cup/Mosi Cup): 5 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975

Zambian Challenge Cup (Shell Challenge Cup/BP Challenge Cup/ BP Top Eight Cup): 4 1967, 1968, 1969, 1978

Heinrich Cup/Chibuku Cup/Heroes and Unity Cup: 2 1968, 1976

Champion of Champions Cup: 4 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978

Zambian Charity Shield: 4 1967, 1968, 1976, 1977