By SANDRA MWILA –
VARIOUS stakeholders have accused the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) of misplacing priorities following the withdrawal of the national women team from the Jordan 2016 FIFA Under-17 World Cup qualifiers.
Leading the charge is former FAZ executive member and presidential hopeful Henschel Chitembeya, who said it was difficult to understand the reasoning behind the move which comes at the same time FAZ had hired a Chipolopolo assistant coach from England.
Zambia was set to play South Africa in the first round of the African qualifiers for a place at the 2016 U-17 World Cup, with the first leg away on January 9.
The South African Football Association posted on its twitter page that Zambia had pulled out of the qualifiers and that South Africa had taken a ‘walkover’ victory.
Chitembeya said in an interview that it was shocking that FAZ close to hire an Englishman as an assistant coach for the Rwanda 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) and then decide that the women’s team would not take part in the World Cup qualifiers.
“FAZ is from getting a coach from England but they are withdrawing a team from the World Cup qualifiers. Finances cannot be an excuse at all, where are they channelling gate takings and the FIFA grant?
“I know that a portion of the FIFA grant that FAZ receives every year is supposed to go to women football. Where are the priorities here?” Chitembeya questioned.
Chitembeya said there was enough money at FAZ to manage the U-17 team’s participation in the 2016 Jordan World Cup qualifiers.
He said it was unfortunate that women football was not given prominence by the current FAZ administration when the only Zambian football side to play at any World Cup were the U-17 team.
He said as long as this attitude continued, women football in the country would remain static.
Former FAZ president Simataa Simataa also questioned how FAZ uses its money when it is not paying taxes and for the use of stadia.
Simataa described as a shame, the withdrawal of the women team especially that it was still at the development stage.
Zambia Sports Fans Association chairperson Peter Makembo said withdrawing the women from the World Cup qualifiers was a setback to the development of Zambian football.
Makembo urged FAZ to improve its system when it is sourcing funds for the women teams and other junior teams that are not sponsored by Government.
“Withdrawing the women team from World Cup qualifiers is a major setback, FAZ can’t tell us that the marketing department has failed to find sponsors for the women team.
“In football there are many sponsors that can come on board, even when the U-17 qualified to the World Cup a number of companies came on board to help,” Makembo said.