Real Nakonde shocked the nation when they qualified for the money spinning Zambian Super league ,the first for a team from the Northern Zone .

They did it in style winning the restructured FAZ Division One and will be among the 18 teams this season or 20 if FAZ approves a decision to increase the numbers in the top flight

Soka25east reporter Austin Oduor en route to Lusaka caught up with both the Chairman Simon Mwanza and the TD Ernest Kabaghe at the formers hotel in the border town of Nakondec

The writer of this article interviewing Real Nakonde chairman

History traces back the club that began as a developmental side for naturing talents from 2002 when it was known as RIM .

RIM ON PROGRAMME was a search talent that had ran for a decade and it was organized as a youth talent development programme.They later joined the amateur leagues that were not structural

The TD of the club Ernest tells soka25east that they used school programmes like Secondary ball games ,the cocacola championships and partnered closely with Nakonde High school

“We gave our youth a chance to play soccer and our emphasis was to come up with the soccer academy ‘RIM ON SOCCER ACADEMY” and we have 15 of our boys playing for different teams in the Zambian Super league ”

Ernest says that in 2012 another amateur team was formed in the area and that time FAZ introduced Divisions in the lower league

“It is at this time that we merged with the the other team and we incorporated to form Real Nakonde FC where we played in the Division 2 from the 2012 to 2014 season ” Ernest said

Real Nakonde qualified to the second tier league ,The Division One North in 2015 .A very competitive league …c the border town survived on their fist outing before topping the restructured Division the following year .

Their rise to the top and historic qualification in the 2016 Division One sent shock waves across Zambia and was equally received with a lot of jubilation from the busy border town of Nakonde where they draw most of their supports

They won the league without losing a single match at their home turf in Nakonde also know as the New Stadium .

“It was a tough league comprising the likes of Chindwini,Prisons and Kabwe Youth but we were equal to task and determination was our main goal” asserts Club chairman Simon Mwanza

The club that has no sponsors and relies on gate collections, contributions by its members and business sales  to run its activities considering the competitive nature of the ZSL where big clubs like Zesco ,Zanaco ,Nkana etc have the financial capacity to run its activities

Club Chairman tells soka25east that they are in dire need of a corporate sponsor as he foresee a tough financial time with the club.He however says the little they have they will try their best and they are not going to be pushovers in the league

According to Ernest the TD, 60% of Zambian clubs are owned by state corporations where the players draw salaries direct from them and man….players together with running club activities is not a problem .

“You find 60% of clubs are owned by the state ,the remaining 40% again half of them are in the copper belt owned by mining companies

Its only Buildcon and Real Nakonde that are owned by groups of individuals and maybe City of Lusaka”

With the 2017 season almost beginning ,Real Nakonde are not leaving anything to chance ,they have reinforced their squad with the acquisitions of three foreign players .Two from Congo DR and one midfielder from Uganda .

They brought in a new technical bench and according to the clubs chairman the acquisitions caused him a total of K20,000 with his top players set to earn around K5000 .He says his players are comfortable and he provides accommodation to them a challenge to most clubs

The major challenge for Real Nakonde is the finance and the cost they will incur in honouring away matches considering the long distance from Nakonde to the clubs that are concentrated in Lusaka and copper belt

“We are still in search of sponsors and we calling upon any willing sponsor whether from within the country or internationally to come to our rescue, we have done letters to different companies but none has responded however we are still optimistic ” Club TD told soka25east

When asked about the use of the banana as their logo,Ernest was quick to affirm that there are several reasons that made them come up with banana as their logo.
He says Nakonde itself derives the name from Nkonde which means a banana and then most people would come to the area to buy bananas and rice which was common there .

Real Nakonde according to Ernest are currently camping in Ndola ,in the copperbelt before the start of their maiden 2017 season and they have played friendlies against Buildcon Roan United ,Indeni and Kabee Warriors .

The club lost 3-2 to another league debutant Buildcon in an entertaining match in Ndola .

Making clarifications on the status of the club ,Ernest said the club is a corporate body with individual shares and decisions made by the executive .The chairman has the largest shares in the club .

He said they will use the New Stadium that is undergoing massive facelift for their home matches

Constructions work ongoing to have it completed before the league startsp

“The New stadium is a private property but we will use it for our home matches ,FAZ inspectors gave us a green light but we have to do some important renovations in the stadium that will hold around 4000 spectators seated .”

The stadium is one of its kind and a spot check by soka25east reveals a spirited effort to have the stadium complete before the season starts

The stadium has a large parking bay outside with another one reserved for officials and teams

Inside the stadium there is the main Stand that holds 400 seats and a VIP shelter section .There is a dressing room with proper drainage ,a doping room,Referees room and the visitors room .

It also has Grand Stands and terraces with a Beer garden .There is also a club lounge with ten rooms inside .

The works on the stadium are ongoing with an automatic water sprinkler J

Part of the stadium that was re levelled and new  grass planted  given time to grow

This is a stadium of its own kind and its important to state that no club in Kenya owns such a club

A comparison with most stadiums in Kenya that host the Kenya Premier league ,only Nyayo and Kasarani are better than the stadium .

City stadium in Kenya that is undergoing renovations and Moi Stadium in Kisumu miss most of the features here at The New Stadium .