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.

Joel Bwalya
Personal information
Full name Joel Kangala Bwalya[1]
Date of birth (1972-10-24) 24 October 1972
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Kafue Celtic (manager)
Youth career
1985–1986 Mufulira Police
1986–1987 Mufulira Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1991 Mufulira Wanderers
1991–1998 Cercle Brugge 28 (0)
1994–1996 → KRC Harelbeke (loan)
1999–2000 Zultse VV
2004 ZESCO United
International career
Zambia U16
Zambia U20
1990–1997 Zambia 20 (1)
Managerial career
Luanshya Hotspurs
Luanshya United
2017 Red Arrows (assistant)
2017–2020 Ndola United
2020 Zanaco (assistant)
2021- Kafue Celtic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early and personal life

Bwalya grew up in Mufulira with two older brothers who were both also footballers, Benjamin and Kalusha.[2]

He left school in the 10th grade to focus on a football career.[3]

Club career

Bwalya played as a midfielder.[4] He began his career with Mufulira Police in 1985, moving to Mufulira Wanderers in 1986, and becoming a first-team member in 1987.[2] In 1988 he won the Independence Cup with Mufulira Wanderers.[2]

He later played in Belgium for Cercle Brugge, KRC Harelbeke and Zultse VV.[5] When he moved to Belgium in 1991 with Cercle Brugge, rejecting the chance to sign for Swiss club Grasshoppers, he did so because his older brother Kalusha had previously played for the club.[2] In 1994 he was loaned to KRC Harelbeke for two years.[2] Whilst with Harelbeke, Bwalya was voted the best foreign player in Division One.[2] Harelbeke wanted to make the loan permanent, but Bwalya returned to Cercle Brugge.[2]

He finished his career back in Zambia with ZESCO United.[6]

International career

In 1988 he was a member of the Zambia under-16 team playing qualifying matches for the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship.[2] He was also a squad member for the under-20 team at the 1991 African Youth Championship.[2]

He also played for the senior team between 1990 and 1997,[4] making his international debut at the age of 18.[2] He was a squad member at the African Cup of Nations in 1990, 1994, and 1996.[2]

Coaching career

He coached at Luanshya Hotspurs and Luanshya United.[2] In 2017 he was an assistant coach at Red Arrows, before becoming manager of Ndola United.[2] He left Ndola United in January 2020 to become an assistant coach at Zanaco.[2]

In August 2021, Bwalya was named manager of newly-promoted top tier side Kafue Celtic.[7]

References
  1. "Staff Member". ZANACO Football Club Official Website.
  2. Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Joel Bwalya, Kalusha's often forgotten brother". CAFOnline.com.
  3. "Joel Bwalya shows one and all he's no fluke". Zambia Daily Mail. 5 August 1993.
  4. "Joel Bwalya". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  5. Cerclemuseum
  6. "Joël Bwalya - Stats - titles won". www.footballdatabase.eu.
  7. Joel Bwalya and Nchimunya Mweetwa appointed head coach and physical trainer at Kafue Celtic - Zambian Football
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