A Zambian football legend has heaped praise on Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, and other leading African clubs, commending their transformative impact on football across the continent.
Kalusha Bwalya, widely regarded as one of Africa’s most influential football figures, stated that the standard of football on the continent has significantly improved.
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The 61-year-old credits this progress to the efforts of top clubs like Chiefs, Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns, and others, who, he believes, have played a vital role in elevating the competitiveness of African leagues.
Bwalya’s comments come in the wake of African representation at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, where Sundowns, Wydad Athletic Club, Al Ahly, and Esperance de Tunis participated.
Despite none of the teams advancing beyond the group stages, their performances highlighted the growing strength of African football on the global stage.
Bwalya emphasised that the game has evolved considerably across the continent, and he acknowledged the contributions of top clubs in making that change.
"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," Bwalya said per Pan Africa Football.
"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.
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"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," he added.
"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."
