By ELIAS CHIPEPO –
THE Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) says it will this year build on the ‘landmark’ achievements recorded in 2013.
And FAZ has bemoaned the poor runs in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals and also the Brazil 2014 World Cup finals.
FAZ spokesperson Erick Mwanza, in reviewing the year and looking forward to 2014, said the past year was marked with landmark achievements and fair results on the international front as the association continued to make strides towards making the game even better.
The Zambia women junior team qualification to the Costa Rica 2014 FIFA World Cup finals and winning the right to host the 2017 CAF Africa Youth Championships including the successful bidding to host the 2019 AFCON finals were among the major strides recorded by the association.
“The president of the Football Association of Zambia wishes for every member of the Zambian football family to carry into 2014 the positives and good practices of the ended year and added to that even more hard work, renewed determination, dedication to serving the game even better and the spirit to aspire to make this year more successful than 2013,” he said.
Mwanza said other success was the enactment of club licensing which he said was a big development aimed at changing the face of Zambian football and also securing the future of the game.
He said enhanced promotion and local and international exposure of league football through expansion of live television which resulted in an unprecedented screening of 75 live matches on SuperSport and ZNBC was another highlight.
Mwanza said the introduction of capacity building programmes for coaches, referees and administrators for efficient management of the game as well as introduction of the CAF ‘A’ license for coaches was another big score.
“We also managed to enhance interaction with our various partners, publics and stakeholders through continued maintenance and growth of our online platforms on Facebook, Twitter and website.
Members of FAZ have in the ended year made a successful transition to receive FAZ circulars and other announcements through email – a transition to nite as it has moved the football family from being paper intensive to the modern and computerized way of running football,” he said.
Mwanza said the association successful managed to host and win the COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup and also managed to expand of the Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) programmes including the initiation of the FIFA 11 for health grassroots development Programme.
“We shall continue with regeneration and development of the Chipolopolo which raised its competition bar with some of the biggest and highest profile matches ever played by our team. Though runs in the AFCON and unsuccessful FIFA World Cup campaign remain major disappointments,” he said.
Mwanza said it was FAZ expectation that both Nkana and Zesco United will do their utmost to attain the minimum of getting into the group stages of the CAF interclub competitions.
