“African football has seen drastic growth in the last years” – Kalusha Bwalya

Former Zambia international, Kalusha Bwalya has given positive reviews about the drastic growth of African football.

Bwalya, who was named the African Footballer of the Year in 1988 by the France Football magazine, cites several factors as the reason for the rapid rise in the continent’s football.

The former Football Association of Zambia chairman spoke to Zambia Sports personality, Godfrey Chukumbi in an exclusive interview.

“Every year something is changing about football and so African football has also changed. In the old days when we talked about African football, when I went to Belgium in 1986, when you are Belgium, there were maybe five or six African players playing in the league in the whole eighteen teams.

“In the year 2000 where you will find young players, some of the players have not played in Africa but from Africa they are playing in Europe, they are at a young age and so there is a lot of movement, a lot of good players getting a lot of opportunities with the internet, with television.

“So we will be able to follow, we know what is happening, what the big teams are doing in Europe, what Wydad Casablanca is doing, what Esperance is doing, what Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns are doing in South Africa.

“So it’s much more open, the level is much quicker because of the training that they are doing. In the olden days we will go running around the field ten or twenty times and that was the fitness that we needed.”

Bwalya’s notable club career includes stints at domestic side, Mufulira Wanderers before spells at Belgium outfit Club Brugge and Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven where he spent a combined nine seasons.