he Zambia Sports Development Agency (ZSDA) has […]

he Zambia Sports Development Agency (ZSDA) has questioned the effectiveness of the committees that the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) continues to initiate, claiming that football in Zambia remains largely unchanged.

FAZ recently initiated a Commercial and Marketing Advisory Committee (AD HOC) that is dominated by business executives, namely ABSA Bank Managing Director Mizinga Melu and Presidential Advisor on Finance and Economics Jito Kayumba, to mention but a few.

 “The committee will play a key role in supporting efforts to dismantle legacy debts, identifying sustainable revenue opportunities, assisting in bridging financing gaps to ensure operational continuity, and promoting the long-term growth of football in Zambia.” to the improvement of the local game,” the FAZ statement indicated.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times, ZSDA Director Cyril Hepplethwaite urged FAZ to consider the impact of football, not solely focus on establishing committees; observing football standards have drastically slumped in the past few years.

“There are too many committees, but we have not seen the results in terms of our football, which is quite bad. It’s a great committee they have established, but we must focus on reviving our sport in the immediacy.”

Hepplethwaite also questioned how the committee will be sustained, as the team consists of executives that are busy and engaged and may require some sort of funding.

“They can’t gather for free; FAZ needs to explain how this will be done and whether this will not dry the coffers,” he questioned further, acknowledging that the idea is commendable and may garner the required results of generating maximum revenue for the association and the sport at large.

He said the drop in form of the Chipolopolo is a reflection of the need to create strategies and policy that can revamp the sport, particularly the grassroots.

 As Keith Mweemba’s tenure clocks a year out of four, critics have questioned his strategies, especially the wrangles with coaches of both the men’s and women’s teams, with the latter yet to be resolved despite the WAFCON coming up in July.

Article by Samuel Mutale