The Football Association Zambia and the Minister of Sports recently met to chart the way forward on many issues affecting football in Zambia

The two parties confirmed holding the meeting in a media statement made available to soka25east.com

“The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development and the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) wish to inform the football fraternity in Zambia that on 12th May, 2020, Hon. Emmanuel Mulenga MP and Minister of Youth, Sport and Child Development called for a Meeting with the FAZ President Mr. Andrew Kamanga and his Executive to urgently iron out outstanding issues between the two institutions,” read the statement.

Sports Minister, Hon. Emmanuel Mulenga (MP) chaired the meeting with FAZ president Andrew Kamanga heading the FAZ delegation. Others in attendance were Joe Kapembwa (Permanent Secretary), John Zulu (Director of Sports), Cade Chikobo (Deputy Director of Sports) and Raphael Mulenga (Acting General Secretary NSCZ).

The FAZ delegation included Rix Mweemba (FAZ Vice President), Adrian Kashala (FAZ General Secretary) and Joseph Chimpampwe (FAZ Deputy General Secretary). The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere with both parties candidly expressing their thoughts and views.
After the meeting, the parties agreed on the following issues:
1. The FAZ Executive led by President, Mr. Andrew Kamanga pledged to work closely with the Ministry of Youth Sport and Child Development in ensuring the development of football in Zambia and achieve positive results for all the teams;

2. The two parties agreed to forge a new chapter in their relationship. Both parties admitted that the fallout was largely due to miscommunication. To this end, the two parties agreed to improve communication to avoid misunderstandings.

3. The parties also agreed that administrative matters which the Ministry of Youth Sport and Child Development was handling would be dealt with expeditiously in the interest of the game of football. This includes the matter relating to regularizing the Contract for the National Team Coach.
During the meeting FAZ gave its account on the electoral process detailing some of the areas that had sparked a lot of controversy. The Executive also outlined the Constitutional Amendments, Electoral Committee and Electoral College that were ratified by the FAZ Council. FAZ further pledged to fully update the Ministry of Sports through the National Sports Council of Zambia (NSCZ) about the electoral process.

The FAZ Executive also appealed to the Ministry of Youth Sport and Child Development to expedite the conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding with FAZ on the upgrading of selected provincial sports centres indicating that time was of essence and that, if there was further delay, Zambia risked not accessing funds from the FIFA Infrastructure Development Project.
Further, the FAZ Executive appealed to the Ministry to consider establishing a Sports Arbitration Tribunal under the National Sports Council of Zambia to help resolve some of the challenges facing various sports federation at local level.
In conclusion, the Minister of Youth, Sport and Child Development committed to provide policy and legal guidance in the administration of football while the FAZ President reiterated the Executive Committees’ commitment to ensuring that it works with government for the development of football in Zambia.