Incumbent Andrew Kamanga has been re-elected as the Football Association of Zambia President at the an elective general assembly in Livingstone on Saturday.

Kamanga received another four year mandate polling 57 votes ahead of his challenger Emmanuel Munaile who got 29 votes.

Speaking in the aftermath of his re-election, Kamanga said that he would be banking on the collective strength of his executive committee members to take Zambian football to the next level.

The FAZ boss says he will embark on the healing process of Zambian football in his second term.

“Healing is a priority, looking at where we are coming from in the last four years. We want to ensure that we unite everybody and speak with one voice,” Kamanga said.

“I think the new executive has a duty to bring everybody on board.”
Kamanga however advised the football family to respect rules for the smooth management of the game.

“Having said that we still have to remember that football is a rule-based game and we have to follow the due process but I remain committed to this healing process because we need to start focussing on the game rather than the administrators,” he said.
“I just hope that going forward, we should be able to carry everyone along so that ultimately Zambian football will be the winner.”

He further pledged to build on the strong grassroots foundation that has become a signature of his administration with the success of junior teams.

“It is like every other building; you have the foundation, so you will see in the next four years the building getting up to roof level and hopefully we can put the roof in the next four years. We will continue investing in youth football, we will continue building on what we have achieved so far, taking into account the short comings we have had.”

He added: “I think the cry from all the soccer fans has been the non-performance of the senior national team. I think that is an area we are going to prioritize, as you know we have got two qualifiers against Algeria and Zimbabwe. we are still in with a chance the next three weeks will be crucial to ensure that we get the team to the Africa Cup.”

Kamanga said the technical bench will be encouraged to open the door for any competitive players that want to play for Zambia.
“We really need to have everyone on board, all the players who are eligible will be given an opportunity to be part of the team so that ultimately we achieve that target of qualifying the team,” he said.
“We also have the world cup qualifiers starting in June, we hope that this time around we will have a strong case to put up qualification to the world cup. Fifty-six years after Independence we have never been to the world cup and that has always eluded us.”
Kamanga will be deputized by Justin Mumba while Colonel Priscilla Katoba was elected as women candidate.

The rest of the executive committee members are Jordan Maliti, Mwansa Kapyanga, Chisanga Pule, David Simwinga, Crispin Kamuna, Arthur Kamulosu, Patrick Ndhlovu, Collins Mukwala, Francis Hafwiti and Mweemba Mujala.

Under the FIFA aligned FAZ constitution each of the 10 provinces is represented by its chairperson on the national executive committee.

Soka25east.com