Kalu eulogizes Alex Chola… the late national soccer striker who perished in an air crash off Gabon coast in 1993

Written by on July 27, 2019



MUKWIMA CHILALA writes

ZAMBIAN soccer legend Kalusha Bwalya has paid glowing tribute to late former Zambia national soccer team striker Alex ‘computer’ Chola who he says was his idol as he grew up in Mufulira.

Kalusha said having grown up in Mufulira he was privileged to watch Chola who he said was exceptional on the pitch for both Mufurila Wanderers and the national team.

He said he watched Zambian great players from an early stage including Godfrey ‘Ucar’ Chitalu who was his father’s favorite player and as such always wanted to emulate the two players.

In a recent interview with CAF online Kalusha who also captained the national soccer team between 1988 and 2002 said that both Chitalu and Chola became his soccer heroes.

Kalusha recalled carrying Chola’s boots to the training grounds even after he started playing soccer which gave him immense pride.

He said that he later got an opportunity to play with his hero in the national team as well at ‘Mighty’ Mufulira Wanderers where he became an understudy to Chola.

“In Zambia I played for a small team while I was still at school and there was a guy called Alex Chola, and he played for the national soccer team and I used to go and watch him play, every two weeks as he was really magic on the pitch. In Zambia he was also privileged to have a goal scorer like Chitalu, who was my father’s favourite,

“But because growing up in Zambia those days you saw these people from an early age and you wanted to emulate them, so I would say they were my first heroes as individuals in that one was my master when I was playing as under-13 and then I got an opportunity to play with him in the national team so I was like his assistant,” said Kalusha

He said Chola was a national team player and later a coach who first donned the national soccer team colours in 1974 having also played for Mufulira Black Pool and Power Dynamos.

The former national soccer team assistant coach (Chola) was part of the national soccer team side that perished off the coast of Gabon after their plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean en route to fulfill a World Cup qualifier against Senegal on April 27, 1993.


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