Zambia : Airtel Rising stars contract sealed.

By Aaron Mubanga jnr

Airtel Networks Zambia Plc. and the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to partner in the Talent Search programme. The Talent Search programme will spearhead the identification and subsequently, development of young football talents that will become the rising stars of the game and future champions of
the Zambia national soccer team, the Chipolopolo. The programme will focus on young boys and girls in the under-17 category.

The programme will run from the 14th September through 5th October 2015.

Speaking at the ceremony, Airtel Marketing Director, Mr. Sekou Barry said: ‘’The stature of the Airtel Rising Stars is growing with
each season primarily due to the array of talent that we are spotting from various provinces countrywide and the scalable
structure that Airtel has formulated in partnership with the Football Association of
Zambia.”

He added: “this programme is the
culmination of district and provincial tournaments in 10 provinces of Zambia. The
programme is part of the Airtel Rising Stars program, a soccer talent initiative that is
focused on identifying and nurturing soccer talent from the grassroots onto a national
stage. Touted as the biggest tournament in the country the championship continues to
attract thousands of youth across the country.”

Mr. Barry said the Airtel Rising Stars will be bigger and better from 2016 adding that next year’s programme would start early in
the year than in the previous years.

Football Association of Zambia President Kalusha Bwalya said; “Over the last few years, the Airtel rising stars has been the
flagship tournament for rising personalities of the game. This year, we take the route of
Airtel talent search as the management teams at Airtel and FAZ progress with work
on how we can make the Airtel rising stars bigger and even better from 2016 and beyond. In saying that, let me applaud these
working groups at both FAZ and Airtel for working hard at this initiative and ensuring
that we explore more innovative ways of making this flagship programme a success that it is. Its significance cannot be
overemphasized.”

“The many talents that we have in our U17 and U20 teams for boys and girls as well as the bedrock of success on which our Olympic Team is founded are deep rooted in the success of the Airtel rising stars. That’s just but one demonstration of how
important this programme is. It is therefore exciting to imagine the impact that a remodelled Airtel rising stars will have on
our schools, communities and junior and youth teams. The challenge for this year is
for the players across the country to seize the available opportunities and be that
stand-out talent,” Kalusha said and announced that “Added to the talent scouting by our technical experts, the Football Association of Zambia is seizing the
opportunity of the this year’s schedule to continue engaging with our members and
councillors who we will be putting through the paces of football administration and management introductory courses which
will empower our club officials with fundamentals of club management.”

Mubanga Aaron

Freelance Football Writer |Freelance sports presenter TV & Radio|Sports Analyst|Social media manager|mubajnrabntv@gmail.com