By FELIX MALUNGA –
THE Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has said losses incurred from the last Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying series made it impossible for Football House to liquidate the more than K1 million debt owed to the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium management in Ndola.

. Levy Mwanawasa Stadium

FAZ owes Levy Mwanawasa Stadium K1, 060, 000 which has accrued from 2013 during the Brazil 2014 World Cup and Equatorial Guinea 2015 AFCON qualifiers while an undisclosed amount is owed to Heroes National Stadium management in Lusaka.
FAZ general secretary, George Kasengele charged that the association had pinned hopes on the three 2015 AFCON qualifiers against Mozambique, Niger and Cape Verde but ended up making losses as only few fans turned up for the midweek games played at night.
“We accept that we owe the stadium management some money but we could not pay from gate-takings from the three qualifiers because we made losses and this affected our liquidity,” Kasengele said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday.
He said by virtue of the games being played at night in midweek, the fans mostly from the Copperbelt could not fill-up the stadium and this denied FAZ a chance to maximise on gate-takings.
As a way of promoting the evening matches and attract more fans, Kasengele said FAZ was forced to slash the gate charges but even this initiative could not help matters.
According to Kasengele, part of the debt owed to Levy Mwanawasa was from the 2013 COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup which Zambia hosted.
On the COSAFA Cup which Zambia eventually won, the FAZ chief executive officer said it was a joint venture between Government and the association.
The semi-final matches and the final between the Chipolopolo and Zimbabwe were held at Levy Mwanawasa.
Kasengele said FAZ has since been struggling to mop up resources to clear the staggering bill but promised to service it “as and when we have the money.”
He also stated that hosting of an international match was costing FAZ about K400,000 and that the stadium management were also charging the association some exorbitant fees for games at the Ndola sports facility.
Kasengele appealed to the Levy management team to consider reducing the charges, saying failure to do so could force FAZ resort to using some stadiums for its affiliates.
The commercial rate of staging an international match at Levy Mwanawasa is K268, 000 but the stadium management has been giving FAZ a discounted rate of K185,000 per game.
On the undisclosed Heroes National Stadium debt, Kasengele said the association equally made losses from the games played at the new masterpiece in Lusaka but that FAZ would still pay up once funds were available.