Following a disappointing showing in the Cosafa Quarter finals against Swaziland and a forgettable qualifying campaign in the African Cup of Nations, it is no secret that Zambian Football needs a fresh start.

There’s growing uncertainty among many football fans about which direction the new FAZ Executive is taking in their quest to improve the game in the country.

Zambia´s long fought dream of dominance was finally achieved in 2012 when the country won it’s first African Cup of Nations trophy. It was looking good for the future of football.

But that joy was immediately shortlived when 11months later, the defending Champions tumbled out the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations at the group stage having drawn all its 3 games.

From then onwards the performance of the Chipolopolo would continue to go downhill.

What has really caused this sudden decline? And what needs to be done to improve the Zambian game?

Certainly the Zambian Super Division has improved tremendously over the last decade. Clubs have taken advantage of the LIVE games on Supersport to tap into the benefits that come with Shirt sponsorship.

Teams like Zesco United, Nkana, Mighty Mufulira Wanderers, Green Buffaloes and Power Dynamos have brought into the idea of engaging the cooperate world to reap extra revenue to improve their teams.

But even that kind of positive change to the League is not enough to take Zambia back to the top.

It is no secret that whenever the Chipolopolo lose an important fixture, there’s is always a call from the powers be that it is time to go back to the drawing board. But how many times do we have to go to that particular drawing board? Or are we really going to the correct drawing board?

BACKGROUND

Zambian Football boasts a rich history of stars that have donned the famous Copper and Green Jersey. From time immemorial, Zambia has produced an abundance of talent from the likes of Godfrey Chitalu, Boniface Simutowe, Samuel Zoom Njhovu, Kaudi Kaushi, Willy Phiri, Alex Chola, Charles Musonda, Kalusha Bwalya and many more stars too numerous to mention.

All these stars performed whenever they were called to the National team and competition was healthy. There were three players for every position and each member of the team played with passion. The absence of any particular player was never felt as another player could come into the team and deliver.
During the time when many mines were still flourishing in the early 1960’s and 1970’s a lot of young aspiring footballers had the opportunity to train and develop their talent from an early. There was a lot of organized youth games through which many Mining companies identified talent for their respective clubs.

Football continued to flourish particularly on the Copperbelt with teams like Nkana, Mufulira Wanderer, Power Dynamos all tapping and investing into community teams. A lot of community sports and recreation facilities were put to help promote and develop football in Zambia. But as time went by, the mines begun to sink. They could no longer make profits. So during the period 1992 to 1996 the Government went on to privatize some of these mines while others were shut down indefinitely.

A lot of teams most of the them who were playing in the FAZ League were no longer getting the desired support. Many community teams lost the support they were getting from top clubs.

Infrastructure was abandoned and some of it went into obscurity. Many football grounds dotted around the communities disappeared without a trace.

But where has it gone wrong for Zambian Football? How do we revamp the sport again?

MORDEN INFRASTRUCTURE

It is no rocket science to notice that we have abandoned the simple basics of football development. Football Administrators have neglected grassroots football for a long time now.

Street football is very common in Zambia

Municipalities in various towns have not helped matters as well. Many community sports facilities are either non-existant or are completely run-down. The district councils across the country have turned most of these community sports facilities into commercial or residential plots.

As a result many children resort to street football.

It is time to go back to basics and revamp community sports facilities. It is from these facilities that many football stars are moulded into future stars.

Zambia boasts of only one Morden community multi sport facility which is the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in Lusaka.

The Olympic Youth Development Centre houses a number of sporting arenas, from a world class swimming pool, three football pitches, running track, hockey fields, tennis and basketball courts just to mention a few

Children at the OYDC come from all parts of Lusaka and its catchment areas to access world class training equipment in various sports disciplines.

Zambia’s Government made a pronouncement in the local media recently  that it will build a replica of the Olympic Youth Development Centre in each of the country’s 10 provinces with the first project set to commence in Chinsali District of Muchinga Province.

This is according to a report on a government news agency, The Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) website.

ZANIS quoted sports minister Vincent Mwale who revealed that the Sports complex will gobble a total of K21 million.

This is a step in the right direction but it is very cardinal that such projects are implemented as soon as possible.

Yes it is just a start but this could be a fresh start for Zambian Football.

It is time to reboot Zambian Football.

Kelvin Trudeau Musako

Football Journalist | TotalEnergies AFCON 2021 Photographer | Media Officer - Kabwe Warriors FC | Graphic Designer | Videographer