•FOOTBALLER of the Year Ziyo Tembo (second right) receives his trophy from Sports Minister Moses Mawere as FAZ president Andrew Kamanga (left) and MTN chief executive officer Charles Molapisi (right) display a K25,000 dummy cheque for the Zanaco defender during the 2016 MTN-FAZ Awards Gala Night at Hotel InterContinental in Lusaka on Tuesday. Picture by GWEN CHIPASULA

By SANDRA MWILA –
ZAMBIAN champions Zanaco have been handed a tricky draw against Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) in the preliminaries of the 2017 CAF Champions League.
And Zesco United, Zambia’s representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup , will be on bye in the preliminary stage and will only join the fray in the first round. .
According to the draws conducted in Cairo, Egypt yesterday, Zanaco will go straight into action in the Champions League against APR,  the 15-time Rwandan league winners in February.
Zanaco, the seven-time Zambia league kings, will open their campaign with a home tie on the weekend of February 10-12 in Lusaka before heading to Amahoro Stadium in Kigali for the return leg the following weekend.
Zanaco coach Mumamba Numba described the draw as fair and that the team would need to prepare adequately for the competition
The draws also puts Numba on collission course against his former nemesis at Zesco George Lwandamina, who now drills Young Africans  (Yanga) of Tanzania, should both sides get past the preliminary round.
Lwandamina’sYanga have a preliminary round tie against Ngaya de Mbe of the Comoros Island.
Numba said in an interview yesterday that Zanaco’s  primary target was to qualify to the group stage of the competition.
“It is a fair draw that we have been handed though I don’t know much on this team but our part is to prepare adequately for the championship,” Numba said.
He said Zanaco should go into the tournament with a winning mentality and not be intimidated playing in the Champions League.
Numba saidt the club was working around the clock to ensure that it beefs up ahead of the 2017 football season.
Asked on the rumours of players leaving the club, Numba said the welfare of players comes first and the club would not stand in their way.
“We are still looking for players to beef up the team. Yes there rumours of players leaving the team but if they are going to play professional football outside, we can’t stand in their way, players welfare comes first,” Numba said.
Zesco, who this year made local history by reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, were exempted from the preliminary round and will join the competition in the first round against either KVZ of Zanzibar or Burundi’s Messager Ngozi in March.